I have just begun my project and have now experienced a sensory deprivation float tank for the first time. I thought that being in an environment with absolutely no sensory input would be a bit stressful at first because of how stark the difference is from daily life, but after I got over the initial absurdity of the experience during the first few minutes, it was not as strange as I thought it would be. Although I was in the sensory deprivation tank for one hour, time passed by pretty quickly, and I felt that I could easily continue. Immediately afterwards, I completed my small pastel drawing. I am in the beginning stages of my first large oil painting as well. Having uninterrupted time dedicated to just thinking is incredibly important to the creative process (at least for me).
Over the past few years, I have been failing to give myself this time, so sensory deprivation floatation therapy gives me the opportunity to put focused thought into my creative process. Although I have only floated once, I am predicting this routine will be beneficial to my artwork. I feel that the largest challenge of my project is the amount of time I will be spending on the series of large paintings.
Although I have now started my first painting, I don’t know what ideas I will have during this project and therefore I do not have a strong vision of what the full series of work will look like. It can be intimidating to go into a creative project where something entirely new is being introduced to the process and the impact this factor will have on my artwork is unknown. However, it is necessary for me to create work that is outside of my comfort zone in order to progress as an artist, so I am excited to work through any roadblocks I may meet during my research this summer.
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