When working on an endeavor of composition* such as sketching or photography, (even writing, thinking, programming, physique, etc), often it goes that a single element will catch our attention and become the point of attachment or fixation of which everything else is built around. But in order to let the composition evolve as a whole, we must be willing to let go of particular elements that have become surreptitiously entangled in belief. Composition speaks more grandly than its collective elements. Development of process (how to learn), transcends those based on consumption (what to learn).
[Similarly, when I come across discussions of ‘the generalist’ vs ‘the specialist’, it seems both are typically compared under the lens of how much and what they have consumed, rather than how or why].
Each summer as the weather shifts into favor, I ‘let go’ of my steadfast training practices to learn/work on something new. Over the years this has given me the two most important pillars of my training.
1. The practice of ‘letting go’.
2. Learning how to learn, (by learning something new).
These form a dependent relationship- the ability to learn will only ever be as good as the ability to unlearn. There is comfort in familiarity, turbulence in transition. These practices reflect a life philosophy and even in simplest form, is still too much to grasp- that it is never about a thing, but its relation.
*Composition is created by light and subsequently the lack thereof. Depth resides in contrast, creative freedom in the relationship.
Almost everything to see has already been captured in some form.. The art then, is how to see the same old things but in different light and how to translate this light into feeling.