Stravinsky on Creative Constraints

Corn Field (24 x 30) private collection

“My freedom thus consists in my moving about within the narrow frame that I have assigned myself for each one of my undertakings.  I shall go even further:  my freedom will be so much the greater and more meaningful, the more narrowly I limit my field of action and the more I surround myself with obstacles.”

- Igor Stravinsky (Poetics of Music, Harvard University Press, revised edition 1993)

There it is again, this time from a musician.  CREATIVITY THRIVES WITHIN CONSTRAINTS.

Having run across this principle expressed one way or another by painters, musicians, poets, screenwriters, actors…it becomes more and more clear--setting limits is the essential task in the beginning of a creative project.  If I want to grow as an artist, this is the place to focus most of my energies.

Making art is problem solving.

So, to make it practical -here are some questions for me to ask myself  before putting a brush to canvas:

• What is this canvas about?  (all other ideas must be edited out)
• What limitations will I impose on myself?
• What question am I asking and attempting to answer?
• What obstacles to an easy solution will I put in my way?