I realized recently that I sing when I paint.
But first, I talk to myself. It seems that I talk when drawing, and sing when painting. Of course!
I talk to myself when I’m figuring out my sketch, looking at the light and shapes and getting them down on paper. I use lots of phrases like ‘Right, let’s see, what’s next?’.
My setup for painting watercolors in my car. If the weather is good, I sit outside instead.
It seems that I sing (or hum, as there are rarely words) when I’m painting, especially when working on detail. I’ve been sketching in my own neighborhood recently and it’s been cold, so I’ve been working from my car. So what I sing is likely to be whatever I last heard on the radio. If that last song was something particularly appalling, I might have to leave the radio on, until I hear something better. Interestingly, I don’t sing-along when the radio is on – I only sing when the radio is off. If I can’t get a song out of my head and want a new one, I often go to something by my all-time favorite band – The Waterboys.
Of course sometimes I leave the radio on (not the engine, just the radio) but it automatically turns off after an hour (you get to know these features of your vehicle when you sit in it to sketch). I turn it back on. Another hour goes by and it turns off again. I’m usually nearly finished by then, but it takes me a little while to pack up. Then I drive home. Or, as happened a couple of weeks ago, I try to drive home and find the car battery is totally dead. This shouldn’t happen from 2 hours of radio use, but it did. So at that point my singing turned into talking again – but with a much more aggravated tone!
Keep on singing, humming or whatever it is that you don’t realize you are doing.
Alison
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com