Alright, alright! Well, the plan to post on July 12th after my trip to the Dolomites did not happen, but 3 weeks later is not too bad. What matters is to be back! 😄
So, for context, this was the first weekend in a while where I had enough alone time to work on my project. I was looking forward to it, but I was also noticing some resistance (as usual 😅). It started with “nice, I can do some aquarelle today for my weekly post”, but then, as the day went by, I noticed how I just wanted to sit on the couch and go on my phone to “kill time”. I knew this was a bad idea, so then came other excuses: “well, I need to clean my apartment first, and I could do laundry too. I’m also feeling tired, so maybe taking a long nap would be best.” I stopped for a second to reflect and realized even though I was really excited to have time to paint, I was also scared to lack inspiration or paint something I wouldn’t feel happy about.
That’s when I had to trick my brain into it: “ok, let’s try the new paintbrush I bought. You just have to do simple lines and circles, and test different pressures to see how it reacts.” Basically, forcing my brain to let go of the idea that I needed to make a masterpiece. So, I started with a simpler painting to get me going. Because it was simple, it looked good, and that gave me the motivation and mental ease to do a second one where I could let my paintbrush flow freely without thinking too much about it.
In the end, I made two little paintings I liked, but if I had followed my first instincts, I would probably have spent the day on YouTube, wondering where time had gone and feeling guilty about not having painted. Ah, the mind sometimes!
Before starting the aquarelle, I also took the time to journal about the art project as I was also noticing resistance there, and I actually came up with some refreshing ideas. Having worked with motors in previous projects, I know they can be noisy, and ideally, I would like this installation to be pleasant sound-wise. So I thought, what if I look into a way to create a water flow without using a motor? What about electromagnetism and water?
I found cool videos about it if you’re curious to learn more about how water reacts to magnetic fields:
I still don’t know if I’ll end up using something like this, but it gives me a cool path to explore. ⚛️
I have to run to a friend’s dinner, but before I go, here’s the second aquarelle from this weekend. Ciao ciao!
