For the benefit of artists who read the Matt Lamb Blog, a reader who is an artist suggests some unconventional ways to enliven the creative process:  paint with an eye patch over one eye, paint with one hand tied behind the back, paint in a very hot room or very cold room, or limit oneself to a palette of only one or two colors.

Matt responds:

Those are some very interesting suggestions.  The world at large probably has not instituted the institution that you and I should be relegated to.  I think the innovation you describe is excellent, experimental and really a part of the chaotic theory of the world that I subscribe to.  The physicality of it is awe-inspiring.

I would be interested to have your opinion of what is the best of your procedures?  Is it a synthesis of a number of things that you do, or is it a classical, finished product?  Do you look on the whole procedure as one experiment that eventually will come to some conclusion?  How do you determine which road is going to take you to whatever the Promised Land is that we’re all looking for as artists?

I have yet to define what I think my own Promised Land is with my procedure.  When I look at something that I really really like and I’ve done it for awhile, that’s when I agitate myself by doing something to screw the whole thing up.

It looks like you have put a very vigorous program before yourself.  I would say that my process is like stirring tea.  Yours is like blending a bunch of vegetables in a blender.  It’s very unique, exciting, and probably very daunting and challenging.  Congratulations.  I’m off to see the wizard to get an eye patch. 

Lamb