Hidden subconscious and fleeting thoughts behind Antonia Showering's painting
I am watching Antonia Showering's interview video on YouTube. She is describing her painting process, and it closely resembles what I have repeatedly heard about other artists' works: shimmering thoughts from the edge of consciousness.
Using oil paint for me is such a wonderful medium because when you get deep into the painting state, where you're not thinking of anything in the outside world, imagery often emerges from the washes of paint that feels like there's a sort of magic to the medium. You'll be confronted with something that feels so relevant but was not intended.
It's as if it comes from hidden subconscious areas in your brain, where, when you're looking at the image, you recognize what were very fleeting thoughts, almost imprints of a moment, that then slip into the canvas.
I've been thinking about Pirsig's pre-conscious perception in connection with McKenna's take on consciousness, along with LLMs and Hyperplace, and where note-taking fits, not in the sense of action and means, but in terms of the cognitive augmentation it brings. I've reached a common denominator that intersects these topics, and that is the quality of what lies beyond the edge of consciousness.
