In the mood for painting - Hugo Grenville

16 September 2010 www.painters-online.co.uk

do not constitute art. Also it is fundamentaland necessary to delve deep into thesubconscious and connect with feelings,impulses and life affirming creativeenergy. Gauguin recognised this in a letterhome from Tahiti: ‘Painting is a questionnot of skill, but of fantasy and utterdevotion,’ as did Picasso when, in animplicit dismissal of the consciouselements of the creative process, he said ‘Idon’t search, I find.’

Wrong state of mindIn order to learn to let go of the temporalworld sufficiently to give voice to our ownpower and passion, we must find a way toavoid being in the wrong state of mind,since that will almost completely hinderthe creative process. Neuroscience hasidentified that the reticular activatingsystem (RAS), which connectssubconscious information flow to theconscious, needs to be open if we are toaccess a creative state. Scientists believethat only 12 per cent of the brain isengaged in conscious activity, of whichonly five per cent is actually used.

Achieving the right stateof mindWe need to get ourselves into Alpha andTheta states (see panel, right), wheresubconscious thoughts and feelingscombine with the conscious deploymentof artistic activity. The four dimensions ofthe right state are: mental, physical,emotional and spiritual. If any of these isout of kilter it will inhibit access to theright state of mind. Doubt, stress, noise,fear and worry affect our mental state,and being ill, tired or hungry affects ourphysical state. If we are angry, hurt, sad ornervous our emotional state altersdramatically, as does our spiritual if wecease to believe that our lives areworthwhile, or become disconnectedfrom what we are doing. We have to

In the mood forpainting

When Henri Toulouse-Lautrec wasmiddle aged, dissolute and dying,he turned to a friend who was

watching him at work, and said ‘At last, Idon’t know how to draw any more.’ Whathe meant by this was that, after a lifespent in looking and drawing, he hadreached the point where his feelingscould express themselves spontaneouslythrough his art, that the process ofpainting and drawing had become avisual manifestation of his emotionalstate, and that by getting away from, orlosing awareness of, conscious thought,he could achieve artistic freedom. Matisseacknowledged the same point when hetold his students: ‘Painting which looks asif it’s made through gritted teeth isn’t theonly kind that is worth attention.’ He wenton to explain that if you want to paint theeffect of light, ‘it is with colour that yourender light, although of course you mustalso feel this light, have it within yourself. ‘The Spanish poet and playwright GarciaLorca’s famous address on ‘The Theory andPlay of Duende,’ exhorts students ofsinging to reject their enthusiasm forlearning technique, and reach out toembrace the struggle with the duende, theearth’s ancient and mysterious life force‘that surges up from the soles of the feet.’‘(Art) is not a question of skill, but of astyle that’s truly alive; it’s in the veins,’ hecontinued. ‘It burns the blood likepowdered glass…it rejects sweetgeometry and makes Goya, master of thegrey, silvers and pinks of the finest Englishart, paint with his knees and fists interrible bitumen blacks.’

SubconsciousToulouse-Lautrec, Matisse and Lorca wereall concerned with the same dilemma:that although any medium of artisticexpression requires huge amounts oflearning and the acquisition of technicalskills, these accomplishments themselves

Hugo Grenville looks at ways to express your creative energy

The four states of mind:l Beta The RAS is closed. This state ismost effective for managerialactivities, for being active, busy,organising or analysing.

l Alpha The RAS is slightly open. Thisis a generally creative state, oftenachieved by engaging the consciousmind in a simple, repeating activitywhich then allows subconsciousthoughts to emerge, such as bathing,washing up or chopping logs. At the17th-century court of King ChristianIV of Denmark, female courtiers wereforbidden to knit because the activitygenerated far too many ideas, at atime when women were encouragedto not have any!

l Theta The RAS is fully open,allowing greater access to thesubconscious while maintainingsome connection with the conscious.This is one level below Alpha, and isnormally experienced as we begin todrift towards sleep, or daydream, ormeditate. It is a highly imaginativestate which often results in immenseleaps of thought and a profusion ofideas. To make use of this fertile stateyou need to keep a pen and paper byyour bed.

l Delta This last state is where weslip away from any consciousconnectivity into deep sleep.Essential for bodily health andmental rejuvenation, it is of course nogood for creative activity.

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Each of these three landscapes was painted enplein air, in a single two-hour session, without undueconsideration. Lorca wrote that ‘intellect is oftenpoetry’s enemy, since it limits too much.’ In thisspirit, and heartened respectively by the glory of anAegean morning, with a plume of smoke ascendingfrom the charcoal burners and the sound of goatbells all around, the gulls swooping above the cowsin a field on the island of Tresco, and the exoticscent of magnolia in the island’s Abbey Garden, Imade these studies in as unruffled and contented astate of mind as I could achieve, immersed in themystical charm of nature, and only seeing shapes orpatches of colour, or accents of dark and light, andtrying not to analyse them. Paul Nash wrote aboutthe experience of drawing in the Wiltshire landscape:‘An instinctive knowledge seemed to serve me as Idrew, enabling my hand to convey my understanding.The landscape was full of enchantment, a beautifullegendary country haunted by old Gods longforgotten.’

On-the-spot landscapes

Looking Down on Old Grimsby I, oil, 15�23in(38�58cm)

Smoke Rising from the Charcoal Burners,Early Morning, Euboea, oil, 19�26in(48�66cm)

Tresco Abbey Garden, Afternoon Light, oil,15�18in (38�45.7cm)

t

‘Before I start topaint, I meditate,daydream’

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devise methods to limit the intrusion ofthese four dimensions, and maximise thepotential to access the Alpha and Thetastates. Bonnard was famous for achievingthe right state in which to work. Writingto a friend about his approach to paintingand his love of his house and garden as arich source of subject matter, heexplained ‘I have all my subjects at hand; Igo and visit them, I take notes. And then Ireturn home. And before I start to paint, Imeditate, daydream.’ Howard Milner, theEnglish writer and tenor who teachessinging at the Royal Academy of Music,writes that ‘emotions live deep in theunconscious … and like the voice cannotbe commanded into action. You cannot

Still Life in Pink and Blue, oil, 28�28in (71�71cm)

make yourself fall in love, nor can youmake yourself sing. You have to learn toco-operate with the voice which is quitedifferent from the imposition of will.’ Andit is the same for the painter. Only byletting go of everything that stands in theway of our path to creativity can weexpect to be in a state of mind that allowsthe striking inventiveness and unfetteredimagination of the subconscious mind tofreely flow through the top of a paintbrush.

My strategyI have devised a routine which helps me‘get into state’ – essential if I am to workeffectively. My routine is virtuallyunvarying, and I firmly resist any attempt

to alter it! I get up at 7am, switch on Radio3, bath and perform some back exercises,eat a good breakfast and then walk threemiles to the studio. On the way I make anyurgent telephone calls. Once at the studio,I turn off the phone, brew a huge pot oftea, and step aside from the bustle ofnormal life. I spend a minute exhalingbreath with a deep sound that connectsmy core to the root of creative energy(here we are back to Lorca and theduende) and, buttressed by the magicalpower of classical music, I commencework. No calls, no interruptions, noadministration, nothing but painting, untilfour or five o’clock – when I reluctantly re-engage with the rest of my life. TA

I N T H E M O O D F O R P A I N T I N G c o n t i n u e d

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Hugo Grenville teaches a summer schoolin London and Suffolk; see

www.hugogrenville.com for details. Hewill be showing recent work in London

with Josie Eastwood Fine Art inNovember, and in New York with Wally

Findlay Galleries in May 2011.

For these studio paintings (left, above andright), which are larger than the plein-airstudies (page 17) I sought the same state ofmind. Once I had planned the composition,considered the scale and selected the palette,I tried to paint these subjects with as muchinstinct and intuition as I could allow to float tothe surface, while attempting to banish anydoubts, any analysis or criticism, until the workseemed complete. But because the largerpaintings were worked on over a longer periodof time, it was harder at subsequent sittings torediscover the initial rapture and more of achallenge to keep the inner voices of criticismand self doubt at bay. But the routine helps,and the realisation that it is impossible tomake good art while remaining attached to theBeta state. We have to daydream, as Bonnardsaid: ‘But as for vision, I see things differentlyevery day, the sky, objects, everything changescontinually. You can drown in it, but it keepsone alive.’

Studio paintings

‘I see things differentlyevery day, the sky,objects, everythingchanges continually’

The Jug of Lilies, oil, 42�34in (106.5�86.5cm)

Studio Interior with Reclining Figure and Jug ofTulips, oil, 42�42in (106.4�106.5cm)

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