Episode 3 : The Power of Not Knowing

Mar 2, 2014

In this episode, Stewart Cubley talks about the gifts that come from not knowing — that is, surrendering to your painting process without a plan or goal.

An excerpt from The Power of Not Knowing . . .

One of the first things you meet when you engage process painting is the realization that you don’t know what to do. By definition and by nature, the process is non-directed: there’s no assignment, no planning, no object in mind. There’s no result that you’re working for. So you necessarily come up against, “Well, what do I do?” We’re so programmed to achieve a goal and to know what we’re doing, to have some direction and some destination to work toward, that it’s quite disconcerting not to have a goal. And yet this is really is the foundation of process arts — the serendipity, the spontaneity, the quality of mystery that emerges when you’re willing to not know where you’re going and what you’re doing. It takes some understanding to give ourselves permission to really not know. It can be quite challenging. Our identity is very tied up with being certain of our plan, of knowing our bearings. So I go to great lengths to create an atmosphere where it’s really okay to not know, where it’s clear there’s not going to be any competition or comparison, where there won’t even be any comments made on anyone’s paintings. This allows the spaciousness that’s required to open the door to the void that’s the source of our creativity. The unconscious speaks to us from that void; we have to be willing to open to it — which means feeling safe enough to not know what were doing or where we’re going.

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