Making mistakes and why it matters.

Someone once said if you don't make mistakes you are not doing anything. True enough. 

But the real point is what we do with the mistakes. So the following comments are just my personal experiences based on a bit of Education Theory. 

When I studied for my teaching Diploma and Degree, I came across the KOLB Cycle. Don't worry too much about the name. Suffice to say that Kolb's theory of learning is pretty much based on what I would call "Reflective Practice" and I will try to explain this and how it is vital to us as artists. 

In short the Kolb Cycle of reflective practice is in 4 stages.

Stage 1- the initial 'experience or experiment'
Last blog post I talked about having a clear intention, and gave the example of the intention of getting the initial block-in 'right' before moving on to the next stage of a painting. 

So let's say the initial experience is -painting the block in stage....doing it mindfully but without too much analysis.

Stage 2 - Reflective Observation

Here is where you can step back and ask yourself some questions. Reflecting on the experience of painting that block in.

For example- a good question is to ask "How did it feel? (especially if you are one of these people who loves to jump right in with colour, thick paint etc etc.) You might find the answer to that question reveals quite a lot about yourself.
Other useful questions at this stage are: 
* Did slowing down here help me see how things fit together more easily?
* Did this experience show any issues with drawing ? (perspective? Symmetry of vases and other symmetrical forms? The shape of a specific subject, for example animal or whatever?)
* Did this experience show any issues with tonal values ( not enough dark for example? Too much light?  Not enough movement of light to dark? etc etc)
* Did this experience show any issues with size and placement? 
The list of questions you ask yourself can be endless, but I think it is best to take just 2 or 3 in order to avoid being overwhelmed by it all.

Stage 3 Abstract Conceptualisation

Here is where is starts to get really interesting. Let's say the answer to the question "Did this show any issues with drawing? " is  YES  (let's use 'symmetry' as our example). Now you can analyse why that might be. 

Ask more questions:  Where is the problem? Is it height/width ratio? Does the vase look lopsided?  What if I drop a line down from the centre of the top of the vase? Is there more vase on the left of that line than on the right? IF the answer is "Yes" then you have analysed what the problem actually is rather than just thinking "O it is "off" " Asking "What if" questions can help so much here.

You can ask more "why' and " what if" questions here to empower yourself to fix the problems.

Stage 4 Active Experimentation

Here you create an "Action Plan" - something that will propel you forward and help you overcome the issues that you observed and analysed in stages 2 and 3.

Using the above example the Action Plan would be : "Every time from now on when I have a symmetrical object I will draw the centre line so I can easily check if there is the same distance from the line to the edge on both sides.

So- embrace the KOLB cycle to help you improve on your own faster. It can help you get out of the repetition of the same 'mistake' over and over. It truly helps us to learn productively from mistakes.

If this all interests you and you would like to know more and/or  did this approach help you in any way ?   Drop me a line. I would love to hear from you.