Abby Chandrasekaran

Collage of Inspiration

admin — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:12:47 +0000

Are you a fan of Project Runway (a reality show where fashion designers compete in various design challenges to get the chance to showcase their collections at Fashion Week)? If you are, you know that before designing their collections for Fashion Week, the final four contestants will start the design process by collecting little things that they think will give them inspiration for designing the new collections. These little things can include a picture of a building, a landmark, a place etc. They can also include a piece of jewelery, a swatch, a flower, etc. You get the idea. Then they put all these little things together such as pinning them on a board. I call it the “collage of inspiration.” From their collage of inspiration, they might get inspiration for the color scheme of their collections. They might get inspiration for the silhouettes of their collections. They might get inspiration for the story that they want to tell with their collections.

Creating a collage of inspiration is an effective and proactive first step towards a creative process. Introducing the conception of “collage of inspiration” to your kids will give them the tool they may need to start any creative process.

I recently introduced the concept of collage of inspiration to my two-year-old. The first collage we made used various department stores’ colorful fliers that we received in the mail. The holiday season is approaching, most department stores’ fliers are filled with beautiful pictures that are Christmas related. One day, I took out a stack of department store fliers and asked my two-year-old to pick out the pictures that she liked in these fliers. She pointed at a Santa Clause figure, a ginger bread house, a ginger bread cookie, a snowman, and a few other things. Then I cut them out for her (I don’t feel safe to let a two-year-old use scissors) and asked her to glue them on a piece of paper in whatever arrangement that she liked. She even made some scribbles on the paper. Here is her finished work:

This collage is the beginning of a creative process. It can inspire the storyline of a book. It can inspire the design of a holiday cake. It can inspire the subjects of a painting……..

Do you make a collage of inspiration before you start a design or art challenge?

(For those of you who don’t know about the Project Runway show but are curious about it, you can go to its website: http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/project-runway )

Creativity and Discipline

admin — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:45:10 +0000

I happened to watch Charlie Rose’s interview of Jim Collins on PBS recently. (Jim Collins is a business consultant, author, and lecturer on the subject of company sustainability and growth. His books include best sellers such as Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, and Good to Great). I was intrigued by some of the things that they talked about.

When Jim Collins was a lecturer at Stanford business school in the late 80′s, he invited Steve jobs to give a talk to his students. He was extremely impressed by Steve Jobs even though Steve Jobs was fired by Apple at the time. In Jim Collins’ opinion, the reason why Steve Job was so successful after returning to Apple was because Steve Jobs was able to marry discipline to his creativity. That’s right, marrying discipline to creativity. According to Jim Collins’ research, creativity is natural and abundant to human. However, it is rare for people to have the ability to marry discipline to creativity in a way that discipline amplifiers creativity instead of destroying it. Steve Jobs had that rare ability. Steve Jobs had the discipline to redirect Apple’s focus when he returned to Apple. Instead of working on dozens of products, he slashed all but four products when he first returned to Apple. He also had the discipline to enforce practices that perfect the designs and production of Apple’s products.

From the surface, creativity and discipline seem like oxymoron. However, when you think deeper about it, creativity needs the help of discipline to blossom. For example, if I only wait for great ideas to hit me like a lightning blot instead of having the discipline to carve out time regularly for idea generation or the pursue of creativity, then I am giving up my control to increase the capacity of my creativity. Another example, if I have dozens of new painting ideas, but I don’t have the discipline to paint regularly, then my ideas remain ideas and they will not be turned into reality. So adding some discipline to your hectic life may bring unexpected reward.

(If you are interested in watching Jim Collins’ interview, you can go to http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11983 .)

Thanks

admin — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 23:40:43 +0000

Dear Readers,

Thank you for your support for my blog. I have been blogging for only about one month and I haven’t done anything to market my blog, but I already received quite a few nice comments from some of the readers. It is very encouraging. So I want to use this opportunity to thank all my readers, especially the ones who took the time to write comments. It is nice to know that some people out there find my blog content useful.

If you want to be informed when a new post is up, you can join my FaceBook page at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Abby-Children-Portrait-Artist/139783012705676

Abby

Artistic Talent – Inate or Not

admin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:55:37 +0000

Do you think artistic talent is innate or do you think artistic talent can be nourished?

I believe that all of us possess artistic talent but it is stored in us in different ways. A small number of people are able to reveal their artistic talent at a young age but most of us need more time, effort, and passion to unleash our hidden artistic talent. A study carried out by economist, David Galenson, seems to support my belief.

David Galenson researched the life of 42 contemporary American artists in the hope of unlocking the secret of innovation, which in turn may yield clues about how to foster fresh thinking in people and organizations. He discovered that genius in art comes in two different forms, embodied by two different types of people. He calls the first type of artists “conceptual innovators”. Conceptualists know what they want and they know when they have created it. They make bold and dramatic leaps in their disciplines and they do their breakthrough work when they are young. David Galenson calls the second type of artists “experimental innovators”. This type of artist proceed by a lifetime of trial and error and do their important work much later in their life. Experimentalists rarely preconceived a work, they figure out what they are painting by acutally painting it.

Isn’t it assuring to know that you may be an experimental innovators in David Galenson’s study and thus you haven’t made it big in the art world early in your career? As long as you have the passion for creating art, who is to say that you won’t be successful in the future.

If you are interested in reading the article about David Galenson’s research, you can go to http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/genius.html?pg=1&topic=genius&topic_set=

The purpose of my blog

admin — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:54:04 +0000

I am a late bloomer when it comes to art. I didn’t show any artistic promise when I was a child. I didn’t even show much interest in art when I was a child. However, deep inside, I knew I would love to be a portrait artist when I was about 8 or 9-years-old. That might sound strange to many people. However, when I look back now, I can understand why that’s the case. First and for most, I was intimated by art. I had the misconception that people were born with artistic talent and it was hopeless for people to pursue an art career if they didn’t have the talent. At the time, many people had that misconception. Even now, we are still surrounded by people who have the same misconception. When I was a child, I didn’t think I had any artistic talent, so I gave up my dream even before trying. I also grew up in an environment that didn’t give much attention to artistic expression.

Later in life, when I was at a cross road and needed to do some soul searching, I took an oil painting class. It had a profound effect on me. It made me realize how much I love to paint. Suddenly, it didn’t matter to me whether I had any artistic talent or not. I simply enjoy the painting process. From that point on, I have been able to nurture my artistic expression and make noticeable progress along the way. Sometimes I wonder if I could be a famous artist by now if I had started painting much sooner. I surely could have enjoyed a more fulfilling life much sooner if I had started painting sooner.

Now as the mother of a toddler, I want to make sure that my child has all the positive reinforcement needed to explore her interest and talent in art. If she is passionate about art, I want her to discover and pursue that passion as early as possible. I also hope other parents will provide an encouraging environment for their children’s artistic exploration. Therefore, I set up this blog mainly to discuss what we can do as parents to nurture our children’s artistic talent and creativity. Let’s get started in my next blog entry!!

How I Got Started

admin — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 15:00:06 +0000

Since this is my first post, I think it is best to talk about how I started my art journey. I hardly ever drew or painted before I took my first oil painting class when I was in my mid-twenties. However, I knew I wanted to be a portrait artist after I watched my mom’ s uncle paint an oil portrait of my mom when I was about 8- or 9-years-old. (The image below is the oil portrait of my mother.)

You would think that I would show an interest in art by drawing or scribbling a lot when I was little. That did not happen. At that time, I actually found drawing with pencil or charcoal boring. I wanted to dive into oil painting right away. I had the misconception that one had to learn charcoal drawing before moving on to oil painting. It was that misconception and my reluctance to learn from the basic kept me from taking art classes.

I finally took my first art class, an oil painting class, at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston when I was in my mid-twenties. I thought I was just taking it for fun but I ended up finding my real passion, painting portraits. To me, an artist is creating a legacy for himself as well as the subject every time he paints a portrait.

As a portrait artist, I see beauty in all people. Any person can be an intriguing subject for my paintings. Although I enjoy painting people from all walks of life, I am more found of painting children and am focusing on doing commissioned portraits of children. I am captivated by their unpretentious nature and their curiosity about the world.

As a child portrait artist and the mother of a toddler, I am also passionate about nurturing children’s creativity and artistic talent. I am using my blog not only to share with other my journey in art, but also to provide resources and open dialogs on the topic of nurturing children’s creativity and artistic talent.