Daily Nourishment for February 19, 2024: Jack Whitten, Abstraction, Sending out Scouts, and More
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 55 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 10-15 minutes
“What I’m saying is, for me abstraction is essence. What we do in abstraction is we take the whole of life and we distill it.” - Jack Whitten
Pause.
Take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale.
Prompt.
Read this quote about Jack Whitten’s art and look at the image below.
“To become familiar with Whitten’s art is to realise that the terms ‘spirit’ and ‘soul’ need no foundation in religion, nor need they reduce to literary metaphors. Whitten gave soul a visual presence, a reality. He constructed his later works, many of them grand in scale, by accumulating small units of cast acrylic paint, often translucent, and organising them like the tesserae of ancient Mediterranean mosaics. He canted the units slightly, so they absorbed light from multiple directions and reflected it back in expanding waves of luminescence. His method expressed – or perhaps liberated – the soul of the material, of the colour, of the light. He did not depict something that possessed soul; rather, he established soul itself within the matter of his painting.”
Quote from https://www.apollo-magazine.com/the-art-and-wisdom-of-jack-whitten/
Black Monolith I, A Tribute to James Baldwin (1988)
By Jack Whitten
Practice.
Read this quote from Jack Whitten then set a timer for 5-7 minutes and journal or take notes in response to the quotes, art, and questions below.
“I tend to do a bunch of drawings before the painting season starts. And I call the drawings—I call them scouts. As a kid—I grew up in Alabama—as a kid I grew up with cowboy and Indian movies, where you would send a scout to see what was going on. I think of the drawings that way. When I do the drawings, I have the material, and I’m just sending the material out, looking for stuff. But the stuff that comes back from the drawings, I can deal with in the paintings. So there is no specific drawing for a specific painting…”
What are the “scouts” for your writing and creative process?
What do you send out in the earlier phases of a new project?
What do you hope to receive?
Quote from https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/03/01/quantum-wall-an-interview-with-jack-whitten/
Want More?
Read this Jack Whitten interview.
*
Upcoming Workshops & Gatherings
February: February Co-Writing schedule and registration options are ready.
February: Online Thoughtful Readers Gathering with Erik Fuhrer(2/25)
February 24: Online Revision Stations Designed by Lauren F. Winner
Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Charlotte Donlon.
*Thanks to Michael Wright for introducing me to Jack Whitten’s art.
*Please help us protect our intellectual property, our creative process, and the integrity of our work. Spiritual Direction for Writers® Daily Nourishment is covered under the Spiritual Direction for Writers® trademark. You are welcome to share this link with others, but any other use (written or spoken) is prohibited without written permission from Charlotte Donlon.