Expanded Note-taking Techniques & Barbara Kruger’s Digital Collage
Expanding Note-taking Techniques: Innovative Approaches to Enhance Creativity Beyond Traditional Methods
Expanding the Concept of Note-Taking
Do you want an almost guaranteed method for having an artistic breakthrough? It's simple. Change the way you brainstorm. During a brainstorming session for new paintings, I found myself drawn into the act of note-taking. This led me to question the traditional methods, realizing that note-taking isn't confined to just pencil and paper.
Alternative Methods for Capturing Ideas:
- Audio Notes: Capture the ambiance of your environment or the sound of your writing to add a new dimension to your ideas.
- Mixed Media Mark-Making: Combine different materials and techniques to create a multi-layered approach to note-taking.
- Frottage: Use imprints and textures to convey ideas, offering a tactile dimension to your notes.
- Drawing Negative Space: Focus on the spaces around your subject to capture an alternative perspective, challenging the focus on the subject itself.
Expanded Note-taking's Impact on Creativity
These methods can lead to artistic breakthroughs by pushing you out of your comfort zone. For someone like me, who often rushes through the creative process, forcing myself to explore these alternative routes has consistently led to innovative ideas and new artistic directions.
Enhancing a Mind Map with Automatic Writing
While brainstorming ideas, I was able to break my ideas down into 5 categories, which I used for the launching point of a mind-map. I further developed my 5-word mind map by integrating it with automatic writing (image above). This approach allowed me to dive deeper into each topic, freely jotting down any questions or thoughts that emerged. The process felt organic, with the sentences swirling and dancing across the page. My words and ideas embodied the space in a new way that opened up my mind to not only "information" but to movement and form.
Exploring Barbara Kruger’s Flag & Digital Collage Method
The content of the questions I wrote about freedom reminded me of Barbara Kruger's work with the American flag (below). For a moment, I felt like I was immersed in her process, somehow connected to the same channel she was on as she created the piece.
Barbara Kruger's "method consists of developing compositions digitally on a computer and transposing the billboard-sized images on to various surfaces1." I usually like working manually, but her process is digital, and so I tried experimenting with different digital renditions of the note-taking.
Digital Experimentation Inspired by Barbara Kruger
I experimented by adding a blue square with red and white stripes, mimicking the American flag, to the "freedom" section of my mind map. The static flag background contrasted beautifully with the swirling handwritten text, creating a visually compelling piece (below).
Further experiments involved overlaying other sections of the note-taking onto my preparatory sketches. This approach helped me visualize how the words would interact with a painting I am preparing.
Iteration and Refinement in Digital Collage
One of my final experiments focused on zooming in on a particular iteration, which resulted in a composition with a slightly blurry background. This added a sense of depth and intrigue to the piece (image below).
In contrast, a more complex scene I sketched turned out too chaotic when overlaid with digital elements. It highlighted the importance of balance in visual composition (below).
Finally, I settled on a version with a pink tint. The pink, representing both femininity and a lighter shade of red (reminiscent of blood), felt like an appropriate aesthetic choice, symbolizing the intersection of beauty and abjection in my work.
Key Takeaways from Expanded Note-taking
This session emphasized the importance of switching up the creative processes we take for granted. Overall, it's about slowing down and questioning our habits and assumptions. It’s about venturing out to do things in ways we haven't before, to bring about artistic innovation and breakthroughs. This session also taught me the importance of preserving both sketches and notes, not just for archival purposes but also for expanding creative processes. Experimenting with Barbara Kruger's digital collage methods, paired with my expanded note-taking, inspired new technical skills and enhanced my artistic vision.
Ultimately, these explorations have broadened my appreciation for various forms of art, contributing to greater freedom in my creative expression. I've applied the concepts from expanded painting to expand the note-taking process, leading me to more innovative thinking in my art practice.
References
Xpainting with Lala Drona
