The Unique Cognitive Skills That You Employ - The Creative Process

The cognitive process: thinking about my thinking as I am thinking. That’s a tough one. The chemical make-up of paint is part of the equation. How will the bonding agents, pigment, and solvents react/interact? What additives in the paint will impact the final solidified imagery? The scientific process is at work here. Observation and experimentation is a large part of the scientific/creative/cognitive process. That sounds a bit out of the ordinary for an artist; yet determining what works and what does not is a key part of the creative-cognitive process. Discovering unique imagery solutions and a arriving few trade secrets along the way are gratifying outcomes for creators.

Assessing the imagery and determining its desirableness is certainly a part of the overall cognitive process. The thinking behind this procedure is a bit inexpressible. I’m not certain if I understand entirely why I choose some pieces over others. Yet, I will try to explain the process. First off, does it look good? Obviously, the artwork must have certain desirable qualities. Pleasing color and color form (the shape, lines or marks the various colors take) are key ingredients to the overall beauty recipe. How is the color combined with another color and what are the results of that combination?

Secondly, is it extraordinary? Do you notice it? Is it eye catching? Does it hit you in the gut?! Does it thump you in the skull and knock you out? Perhaps I don’t need to be knocked out, yet the imagery must make an impression on me. The piece can be loud or subtle to be impressive. Sometimes the piece needs to grow on me. Although this is a typical statement concerning the numerous vicissitudes of life, it is nonetheless true here. Time may be needed to allow an image to woo you, to gain your appreciation of its many distinguishing and alluring qualities. Not unlike developing an attraction to another person. Or if you are a narcissist, taking the time to find those impressive and alluring qualities in yourself and obsessing over them.

Another part of the assessing/cognitive process involves how the color and color form is applied. This is also part of the performance, creation, and selection process. I use performance here because the act of creating involves unquestionably, a smidgen of performance. Not unlike watching a baker decorate a cake. The culinary arts are a pleasing form of performance art and so is the painting process.

A final part of the cognitive process is presentation. What presentation is the best for the piece? Framed or unframed. If framed, what kind/color of frame? Should glass cover the piece of should it be without protection? If glass is used, would antiglare be the best? These and other questions like them are part of the overall creative-cognitive process.