Motivation

How do you motivate yourself to get your artwork done?
Ruth Parke

Motive: what impels a person to action - fear, ambition or love.
All of the above.

On first glance this seems to be quite a simple/straightforward question, and maybe it is.
But,
I have found as I ponder on it from different angles: there are more answers than one.
Initially, after producing art in a serious manner since I was 14, nearly 50 years, it's too late to stop. "I" don't have a say in it anymore, that would be a waste of a life.

I have always taken on projects, I like some of them to be very much in the public domain with (seemingly) very pointed ends in sight.
Although, when I'm working on a project of my own or current theme of work, I don't (always) let it bog me down it I don't quite complete it. I don't want to let that detract from something else that may be cropping up.
 

"You can only look behind from where you came"

 



I have recently been told that I am a bit of an "archivist". Maybe one of the reasons for this is in order to be able to come round again and pick up where I left off. Almost in an anti Joni Mitchell seasons thing, making it possible to "look back" whilst moving forward - - - - - - - - This image has been revampt in order to make it more fresh and relevant. 

At present I seem to be throwing a lot of stuff out on blogs etc.
I reckon that's this process in a more public format.
Although I'm not surprised at this output as there doesn't seem to be (in the way of projects) a lot happening at the moment. Maybe I took my eye off the ball.
So I suppose what I am saying here is that I have simply created my own project to power the whole thing along.
But again, without all this - I would simply keep plodding on outputting stuff. Sometimes I feel that I don't know how to do anything else.

Another angle to look at this from is the actual doing part of it. A cutting edge is needed, complacency is the enemy of creation (and motivation!)
At the moment I am making Papier-mâché out of very sensitive domestic documents, shredded and pulped in order to become immortalised! In the sheer using of this stuff, I am aware that my materials have their own history.
I remember meeting a chap in Udaipur who was making miniatures on the back of pages from the Koran. Powerful statements, mind I wonder if the Koran would actually allow him to do this.

Maybe a lot of it is simply tricking myself into believing its important. And there again a lot of it is a simple reaction to what is happening all around me, maybe even a survival process.