My New Colleagues
Day 32 of Hilma Af Klint and the Imaginary Possible
Every morning in November, I bound out of bed, eager to begin painting. In addition to Hilma’s quiet presence, I discovered my colleagues in this creative endeavors included shapes, lines, and colors.
Different pens had distinctly different characters deepening on their width.
Dark, fat black lines helped to add contrast and depth.
Thinner lines inspired delicate details, but they could also be strangely sturdy, like the membranes in a cell.
Certain shapes — spiral and seeds roused my hand into motion.
Loop de loop lines made me almost giggle. When I found myself getting too serious sometimes a loop de loop would remind that exploration was supposed to be fun.
I started to feel as if lines, shapes, colors were each contributing to the painting that was materializing onto paper.
We were all working on together. Any one of us might come up with something new and interesting and led me a direction I might not have considered.
Materials like paper, pens, paints are often spoken of as if they are inanimate and fully under the artists control — as if they do not participate in what the artist is able to realize.
In my experience, I like to think everything participates, inspiration is in the collaboration between myself and all the forces that are at work that inspire my hand and my eye and my heart. Sometimes inspiration comes from within, but many times too, it comes from without.
If we look around and invite participation from the world around us, there is no shortage of inspiration or opportunities for collaboration.
