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/Spanish metaphor 2011
21:37 Sunday 5 February
How does one create a new approach in an area of familiarity, even of expertise? There are times when this is quite an important question. Sometimes we’re simply stuck in a rut. Other times we need to break into new territory to open up new opportunities or fuel new learning, or we're simply curious... what if...?
Last year end of January I set myself the challenge of creating a new approach to my painting, and I gave myself one week to do it. I applied a simple tool in strategic creativity, and followed it through over 5 days in southern Spain.
I started with a Catalyst Question. In this case I used key concepts in my coaching work to form the question: How can paintings inspired by the Spanish landscape serve as a metaphor in regards to three issues:
Focus amidst complexity
The place of routine in a creative context
The expression of individuality within a
prescribed order
The process I followed has three stages.
Stage One: Catch the Scent (get the
hounds fired up and ready to go)
Stage Two: The Hunt (flush out the forest)
Stage Three: The Pursuit (Track down the
prey)
I describe this process elsewhere. For today, I simply show one result in the attached photo, the painting 'individuality within a prescribed order'. The inspiration for the metaphor came from the olive orchards. From a distance, even across the room as seen here, the scene is quickly recognized as the familiar pattern of an olive orchard. It’s a striking painting, strong and lively in pattern and colour. Yet a quick look also raises the question of just what those marks really are. They’re not exactly trees. And thus interesting conversations begin in the living room. Just what is that painting all about?