Art and Creativity: Are You A Serial or Parallel Creator? Or Something Else?

It seems that there are almost as many approaches to the creative process as there are artists in the world. 

Because we have a gallery, I find myself talking to artists on a regular basis, and it never ceases to amaze me just how many different ways people go about creating their work.

Approaching the Creative Process

Experience tells me that it is almost a rarity for someone to get an idea, sketch it out, and then complete it to finished execution in one linear process.

Although I have done so on occasion, those occasions have typically been special commissions that had a very clear objective in mind.

When we are working with our own creative flow, it is seldom so cut and dry. 

Personally, I like to keep things very flexible, and I often end up working on a dozen pieces at once. It's not really because I prefer it that way, but more because it simply happens to unfold that way... and I was never very good at concentrating on just one thing to the exclusion of all others.

My work also tends to be on a fairly small scale, so I don't have to worry about things like actual "project management" on each piece.

"Serial" Creativity

A friend of mine-- who's a fine watercolour painter-- likes to create work in "series." She tends to come up with a theme, and then starts to work on variations on her theme, often going to 20 sketches or more before a brush ever touches the paper.

However, she has a very clear idea of what she wants each piece to become, and once the painting process starts, she begins and finishes one piece at a time. 

I know quite a few artists who engage in this type of "serial creativity." With the artists at the gallery, we especially see this when someone is working on a "themed" show opening... whether at our location or somewhere else.

And Then Consider Your Medium

Of course, your medium also matters, in terms of how you approach the work process.

Those who work in ceramics would have a very different approach to each piece of work from those who are oil painters. A ceramic artist needs to accumulate a certain number of pieces before it becomes viable to do a firing in the kiln. 

Conversely, with a medium like blown glass, you are pretty much forced to complete your work one piece at a time, because it each piece can only be worked while it is molten... except for minor finish work like polishing bases.

As someone who does tiny painting on rocks, my work tends to be "staggered," because I deal with a multi-step process: I have to find and wash the rocks; then I have to paint each one and let the oil paint cure for 5-7 days before I can apply a finish coat... these are all distinct steps that get repeated with multiple items each time, or the process would become extremely cumbersome.

Painting... The Field is Open

Painting perhaps offers the greatest flexibility. 

We know some painters who quite literally go start-to-finish on one canvas before moving on to the next, and we know others who have 20 pieces going in parallel-- doing a touch-up here and an adjustment there.

The bottom line, however, is that you have to find the approach that works for you! As best we can tell, there is really no "right" or "wrong" way... only YOUR way. And as long as that keeps working for you, don't let external voices try to persuade you that what you're doing is wrong. 

Because it isn't!

Thank you for reading! Red Dragonfly is a proud member of the @sndbox creative initiative.

The Red Dragonfly is an independent alternative art gallery located in Port Townsend, WA; showcasing edgy and unique contemporary art & handmade crafts by local and worldwide artists. All images are our own, unless otherwise credited. Where applicable, artist images used with permission.