Jen Jovan Art Musings and Random Thoughts

Uncertainty is the Essential, Inevitable and All-Pervasive Companion

7/13/2020

"Uncertainty is the Essential, Inevitable and All-Pervasive Companion" - acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas, 36" x 36" x 1.5". Ready to hang (back has been pre-wired for hanging). Available here and at Artfinder.

Control, apparently, is not the answer. People who need certainty in their lives are less likely to make art that is risky, subversive, complicated, iffy, suggestive or spontaneous. ART & FEAR

Wait. What? Control isn't the answer? Just kidding - we already knew that, right? I mean, we WISH we could control things into magnificence, but we know that approach is futile. And yet.

I still kid myself sometimes when I start a painting. "I'm going to paint THIS," I say to myself. And I sketch my idea, post an inspiration photo or whatever and set off to make it happen. Sometimes it does (kind of) but mostly the muse just runs amok with the paints and tickles me for thinking it was ever within my control. Which is what happened with this big piece, nearly a month in the making and containing at least three different paintings that the Universe determined were not gonna happen.

Uncertainty is the Essential, Inevitable and All-Pervasive Companion

Simply put, making art is chancy - it doesn't mix well with predictability. ART & FEAR

But this repeated experience of being tickled into submission by the muse has been, frankly, transformative. I really don't mind going with the flow anymore - in art or in life. I mean, I'd rather things went down one particular path or another of course, but I have learned to stop and expand my thoughts to include good things that just might happen even if I trip and fall down a perilous path and land with bloodied knees.

Uncertainty is the essential, inevitable and all-pervasive companion to your desire to make art. And tolerance for uncertainty is the pre-requisite to succeeding. ART & FEAR

Based on my level of tolerance, I have now clearly found my inevitable and essential companion. He isn't exactly what I expected, and with a name like "Uncertainty", no wonder he was still single. :)

A glimpse into the twisted path of the painting:

7 Comments

Carl Stoveland

7/13/2020 12:13:52 pm

My daily struggle. Control versus everything else the universe has in store. You seem to have gracefully found that place where you pick a direction but let the unfolding future play a hand in the process. I’m a work in progress on that front.

jen

7/14/2020 04:59:03 pm

Carl! We are kindred strugglers. I love that you said I "gracefully" found that place...ha ha! Awkwardly, clumsily, painfully. I suppose that's really the only path to letting go of control? It's not like we'd just hand over the reins without a fight. :)

7/14/2020 06:16:38 pm

You are right it’s a two steps forward one step back (sometimes more) proposition. I’m planning to do sunset time lapses tonight. Lol just got a weather alert for a storm with 45 mph winds. Lol. Doesn’t nature know I have a plan!

Dotty Seiter link

7/13/2020 01:45:23 pm

1. The stark message: control, apparently, is not the answer.
2. The illusion of a strongly delineated 'horizon' that in fact is broken up and obscured in places. Uncontrolled, ya know?
3. The glimpses of past lives, especially the one on the left.

You are my go-with-the-flow hero, Jen!

7/14/2020 05:00:52 pm

Dotty, I tell you, control is a tricky beast! And not the answer. Sigh. That broken horizon makes me very happy....and the start of the painting also made me happy! But the muse had other plans. ha!

Carol Edan link

7/14/2020 02:08:49 am

I am one of those that needs some certainty in life. Long story! But, I am learning to embrace the uncertainty in my art making. Still have long way to go. You are certainly brave, large format, and a very nice start, the small first image. ( I like it because of the composition and use of neutrals) But something had to be released !

7/14/2020 05:02:38 pm

Carol! Certainty....if only I could buy an insurance policy for that. :) But alas, embracing its opposite seems to be the only solution. Thanks for your feedback - the painting start is one I will try again. And maybe the muse will let it percolate in that direction.

Uncertainty is the Essential, Inevitable and All-Pervasive Companion

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