Creativity Quotient

Bouquet with Daffodils watercolor 13x9"

Can what goes on inside a person's brain while he or she engages in a creative task be measured in a laboratory? An article in New York Times 'Charting Creativity- Signposts of a Hazy Territory ' outlines recent research in the field: " Creativity is kind of like pornography-you know it when you see it." said Rex Jung, a research scientist at the Mind Research Network in Albuquerque. Dr. Jung, an assistant research professor in the department of neurosurgery at the University of New Mexico, said his team was doing first systemic research on the neurology of the creative process, including its relationship to personality and intelligence."

So, what makes one creative? Is it aptitude? divergent thinking? A quirky sense of humor? Risk taking? "The brain appears to be an efficient superhighway that gets you from point A to B when it comes to intelligence, Dr. Jung explained. "But in regions of the brain related to creativity, there appears to be lots of little side roads with interesting detours, and meandering little byways." Further into the article I found this gem: According to Kenneth Heilman, a neurologist at the University of Florida and the author of "Creativity and the Brain (2005), creativity not only involves coming up with something new, but also shutting down the brain's habitual response, or letting go of conventional solutions. Interestingly, Dr Kounios defines creativity as the ability to restrucutre one's understanding of a situation in a non-obvious way. I look forward to more research that will help me capture/liberate and maximize that elusive creative spirit and apply it to whatever I do :)

Bouquet with Daffodils in watercolor was my attempt to show the burst of colors that spring brings.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Digital photography

Weed or Wildflower?

Whispers By the Blades of Grass watercolor 22"x30"

In this painting of the 'Henbit', I took some liberties and didn't adhere to the pink / reddish purple of the petals that you find in nature. I took the little flowering plant and enlarged it in my drawing many many times its usual size :) As is my natural inclination, I then filled the paper with color and pattern!

Living close to the water, we try to limit our use of chemicals in the yard as much as possible. This means we have pink clovers, purple henbits, yellow dandelions and buttercups, white sundews etc. sprinkled around the 'lawn' making me often wonder about the difference between a weed and a wildflower. When our daughter was a young child, she would often insist that her Dad mow the grass around the blooming clovers or buttercups and he always happily obliged giving the yard a checkered look of colors! As Ralph Waldo Emerson said " What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered." Or from A.A. Milne : " Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them."

Whispers by the Blades of Grass watercolor 22"x30"

Labor of Love

My artwork is on display for the month of May at Poquoson Public Library. It is wonderful that the library provides a venue for artists to display their work. For me, it is very gratifying to see and share a collection of my paintings from the past year displayed in one place.

Showing my artwork also forces me to mat and frame the paintings and give them a 'finished' look! --otherwise they languish in some corner of my 'studio' gathering dust. I spent the bulk of my time last month cutting mat and assembling the frames etc. and now I am ready to pick up my brushes and pencils once again. I feel somewhat validated as an artist and sense a renewed wave of enthusiasm to get back to producing more art. While Henry Wards Beecher said "Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his paintings", I think every viewer sees those paintings in her/his own special way too.

Shadow Patterns

In the right light,

At the right time,

Everything is extraordinary

- Aaron Rose

The morning sun hits the sheer curtains of our bedroom in a different angle in spring. I love the pattern of light and shadows cast by a pyracantha bush right outside the window.

digital photography

Wonder of Creation

Tulips watercolor 16x20"

The change of seasons always gets me very excited. Right now it is amazing to shed jackets and gloves, see and feel the transformation outside: fresh green and other colors all around us, rabbits hopping around, chirping birds looking for morsels and a place to nest. As we were moving the potted plants outside from the sunny kitchen window corner and the sun room, I was tickled to separate the plants as some were sending creepers every which way.

In the past week, I also saw a TED video by Amy Tan on how she goes about creating, a movie "Creation" on Charles Darwin writing 'The Origin of Species" and another TED talk by V.S. Ramachandran on our brains and the universal connection. The world around is just full of wonder.

Tulips in watercolor was painted by me a few years ago. I am dipping once again into my collection as I have been busy matting and framing my paintings rather than making new ones. I am now itching to get back to my brushes and pencils.

Experimental Recycling

These two small watercolor pieces (5x7") are experiments done on tyvek. A few days ago when I received some mail in tyveck envelope, I decided to try painting on it as I had been admiring Myrna Wacknov and Sandy Maudlin's paintings on Tyvek and Yupo. It was a very spur of the moment decision and I cut the envelope so I would have a decent size empty space for me to paint. This morning I quickly selected two photographs and without sketching or planing just took the brush and paint to the paper. It was a fun experiment and I will look into playing with some decent proper pieces of tyvek or yupo. I liked how paints mixed with each other and in a way just sat on the paper which made it easier to wipe and repaint. It has very similar feel to Fredrix watercolor canvas. I got a big kick out of having recycled the envelope as tomorrow is Earth Day 2010.

Zen Moment

Two days ago I took a series of photographs of this bird. Trying to capture as close-up as possible with my simple camera(Sony cyber-shot) , I approached slowly, taking a step at a time and clicking away, fully aware that any second I could be deemed dangerous and the bird might take flight. I was able to get pretty close and sit right by the pole just a couple of feet away in the pier. We studied each other until it was time for me to leave. I was thrilled to share quiet zen moment together on a beautiful day. I wondered what kind of adventure resulted in only one leg for this bird -- because he surely was not standing on one leg rather had only one leg.

Speaking of sharing, a friend sent me a link to a two minute video of the day on every painting in MoMA on Flavorwire.com - a wonderful way to check out the paintings!

Color of Life

"A picture is not thought out and settled beforehand. While it is being done, it changes as one's thoughts change. And when it is finished, it still goes on changing, according to the state of mind of whoever is looking at it. A picture lives a life like a living creature, undergoing the changes imposed on us by our life from day to day. This is natural enough as the picture lives only through the man who is looking at it. " - Picasso

A stainless-steel plate with ripe bitter-gourd busting with seeds sunning on my deck last summer was the inspiration for this painting. Does it matter?

Color of Life watercolor 9x12"

Something to Crow About

I finally got around to painting this guy in color pencils! When we visited Hawaii a few years ago, I was delighted to see lots of hens and roosters roaming around scratching and clawing the earth looking for food. I also have a few photographs and sketches of their cousins from India. Somehow I never got around to drawing or painting them until now. By the way, a rooster can and will crow any time of the day or night -not just at break of dawn. And they cannot crow if they cannot fully extend their necks.

Fowl Vision color pencils 9x12"