Imagination: Changing things on the fly to seek a balance

Letter to an architecture student seeking info on "Imagination ... *** 

Here goes!

In figure art, the posture is most important. Anatomy has to be correct. So the only imagination scope left is light and shadow, balance of warm and cold colors, perspective and choice of background that Creates a story.
My wife takes photographs when we drive. This is my raw material. Here , I get the natural postures. How to Drape the subject is left to me.

I do not plan ahead! I Drape according to what occurs to my mind, when I am drawing.
It is the decision at spur of the moment. If it does not appeal, I re-drape.
Unfortunately in watercolour, there is no undo, in oil it's easy. I am enclosing few photos with a story.

Two women reading a Book!

I googled for statues of Rodin. Two separate statues that could make a story. Both were nudes.

After I placed them on my 3x6 canvas, I draped one girl ready for party. The other more engrossed in reading . The standing woman is slightly interested in the book as well. Her initial notion of hurrying her friend to the party and her initial annoyance, has disappeared as what she reads over the shoulder seems interesting.

The lamp (again a googled image) was added to a dark background to put a glow on the face. The left side of the painting looked empty. I decided to hang a violin that I have at my home. It as an afterthought that balances the artistic temperament of the seated girl.

You see! Nothing is planned ahead. The painting is an assembly of googled images. Putting flesh and making a angelic marble statue, human. I don't plan ahead apart from the postures and placement. Imagination happens when I feel, what next to balance. What can lead to a story.

The painter on ladder.

My initial plan was to paint a life-size girl so that, I partly paint the canvas with the same colour of my hall , leave everything else whitewashed. create an Unfinished painting.

There was an image, that I found suitable upon googling. I have tried many hairstyles for the girl.mostly tousled hair.

But all of them looked wrong, for the painter with a roller in her hand. The painting looked flat. 

Then, I decided to change everything. I changed the t- shirt to a double top. Changed the grey jeans to blue denims, that I personally like. The background of flat wall color changed to a Deeper universe. The roller in her hand then changed to a brush . The wall painter is now an artist. Nothing went as planned. The  result is better than my plan. It unravels, when the thought occurs something can be better. Why the universe? The girl could pick apples in a orchard.! Why not.! The universe portrays my belief in negligiblity of a human, as compared to the vast universe. Imagination relates to values that each artist carries. The feeling of right or wrong is tied to values. Another artist, who is stuck to earth would prefer apples! I feel it would be too ordinary, when I watch the painting for long long time..The universe has a deeper appeal (to me). It is something that I would not want to whitewash in future. It could be my Monalisa, that I keep working upon for 4 more years.

The girl on katta

A picture by my Wife of a road side girl.. my model is a beggar!

I re-did the colors and attire to a traditionally Dressed common girl. The katta and wall done late decided on spur of the moment. The wall has earlier art to depict traditional values. The backdrop has party city girls in a late evening. They just came out from another old watercolour sketch of Mine , but now in silhouette. 

The conflict for the sitting girl is to stick with traditional values or join a binge! The deciding factor is money. Money and simplicity keeps her rooted to tradition. Her values are suited to the purse she caries.

Now. .All this, I try to portray is my story. I try living as a minimalist. I don't go to parties anymore. It's my values that I show. A person with different values may see it as a negative painting?

Imp for you.. imagination drives such paintings that are Created over a span of many days.

Thoughts come and Change .
What is drawn may be changed..Whitewashed.
 What appeals to an artist is easy to make out from his/her painting. Travel is necessary to imagine more. Taking pictures that will help future paintings. After which, it's up to the mind.

You should understand a basic difference between Architecture which is mix of engineering and artist and just pure art.

I have been a mechanical designer where aesthetics comes into play. car Body for example. I know what is a better class surface when I see it. Underneath the skin surface I see lot of hard work.
 

There is a saying: What does not look good may not work.

If I create a cad model for a desired outcome, If I attempt to build it in ten different ways, to serve the same solution. Maybe, I will create 5 concepts. Merge two or three to get to a design.It is the same as art. Create different sketches. Merge them to create a large painting. (What fits well. That is imagination and creativity working together)

For Imagination to happen, there is a lot of raw work that needs to be done first and it need not be perfect. Then look at all the concepts you sketched out and pick what work together to give best solution.

Thought evaporates before it is put on paper? Why?

When we think.. we dream ; we do not face reality during the dream. So everything is always perfect as you want in that dream

When you wake up and put on paper, Reality hits us. We become aware of constraints and what was the dream begins to seem unreal to practice.

There are very few dreamers who can live their dreams and make them true. They also have ability to dream wide awake. They are very determined people. When they fail they try again. They try to live up to their image of themselves..not dictated by what the world thinks. Their idea may be discarded as silly and foolish. Yet they struggle. Strong pursuit to make things the way they feel about it.

What was imagined MUST become real to them. They are strong drivers of their desire. For the weaker ones, the thing just never get to the paper. They get disturbed or get lazy. Lazyness must be avoided at all times. Its just work and sleep. No TV shows to distract!
 Imaginative people are not very social. They will always get lost in their dream. They will disconnect from conversations. Society limits them. They cannot stand too many rules as rules puncture imagination. Rules trim the flight of a free bird.

 The people who are social, care about their image are easier to get distracted from their dream. They care about the reaction that every action will fetch. 
It is almost a meditative state that I would seek to imagine beyond myself.

Beatles were 4 guys.. I recall that they would contribute together to build a song each line by a different person. (Which means you need equally creative friends. No one lesser than you. ALL equally crazy people!)

 The best hour to imagine and write down, when there are no distractive thoughts in the mind.

Mind like water. No distraction!

When you are most creative, you forget about food. 

The work is more important and it no longer feels like work.

One example:

I dream about living in a castle above the clouds..

If I apply it in real sense.. The cloud cannot hold the weight of my castle. The dream immediately fades away.

Then.. I might dream to build it on a hill in lower foothlls in Himalayas, where I see the clouds underneath in the valley. For few, this is quite satisfactory solution.
Then I question myself. What do I really want. The feeling to be above the cloud. The castle is just a cover.

 I need supremacy. Taller than the world. Clouds make me feel high. Alone!? means taking care of myself.

So I climb to a very high mountain in himalayas. Put a tent there.. I am higher than the high altitude clouds. I open the tent flap and clouds roll in.

I feel supreme as I am the only one. King of my terrain. I dared to live my dream to make it true.  It is better than building a castle in air and again live inside stone walls.
When satisfied, I return for another dream.

A nightmare can trim my ability to dream. Some mishap which does not allow me to go back  on climb again. Som shaken confidence that is hard to repair.

Society asks me to pay attention to family and with my handicap I decide to listen to most of them and not my Mountaineer friends.

 You see.. There is a lot within us that "obeys" to what others want us to do. Similarly, others may try to argue to weaken your thought.

Its finally up to us to decide to imagine and execute.

Repetition to obtain finesse ; elimination of un-necessary.

These Look like "imagination". It is just hard work and continuous pursuit to get better! 

Only the core things that cannot be changed, remain the same. Background changes to suit the mood.

The prevailing mood changes the nature of the painting. It is hard to control mood. So , in art, the yield is more different than engineering which requires some planning and a  design freeze!

I live with my painting for few years or months. Each time I look at it, there is no satisfaction. I imagine if the painting looks right or can be bettered.

Imagination is also controlled by mood that prevails any artist. OR the desire to make the art piece better.

I know all above is not a perfect anwer. But really.. what's perfect is to be sought by self. Imagine that?
 

Best regards,