The WOW Outcome

A friend of mine who’s known me since I was born (she’s a surrogate aunt, really), is an accomplished artist — painter, art quilt designer, cartoonist, and (in the past five years) a prolific artist in the aborginal dot painting style. Her work has been included in many publications and venues, including the White House, and she has been a producing artist for more than 50 years. Her exploration of aboriginal dot painting has led her on a path of great discovery, and her pieces are wonders of skill, design and inspiration. Recently, she began working the dot painting technique on found rocks, creating what she calls “Abo Rocks,” and this new direction has given her the opportunity to experience working with nature in an entirely new way. In a recent email to me, she said that when painting on a canvas, the blank canvas just sits there and takes from the artist; when painting on a rock, “the rock gives.” When I read her message, in which she was speaking to me in co-creative words, and I absolutely leapt out of my chair with joy! Here’s more of what she had to say:

“I have learned from my rocks. I have learned that it works out best to go with the natural flow instead of working so hard to shape it into what I had hoped (not a new idea but a personal epiphany). I have learned that flaws are frequently blessings; that accepting a flaw and even featuring it as a good thing (i.e., fill it in with dots or swirls) can sometimes make the difference between a prosaic outcome and a wow outcome. I have learned to respect the heck out of Ms. Nature, whose design and color sense and whose instinct for ‘rightness’ just blow me away.”

“Respect” is the perfect word. I have watched artists force natural objects to fit their concepts, and the results are typically awkward and strained. These artists, too, have to strain themselves to make their desired, un-natural outcomes happen. In this world, at this time, humans too often strive to dominate and tame nature, rather than working with natural elements and partnering with them to co-create. I deeply appreciate my Aunt Jane’s take on all this — that this human-nature partnership can shift what would have been “a prosaic outcome” into “a wow outcome.” Personally, I opt for the WOW.

(Thank you, Aunt Jane, for sharing these thoughts first with me and then with these dear readers…)