The Furry Gamble - Part Two

In order for these ramblings to make any sense, you'll probably have to go to the first 'Furry Gamble' post here. But if you've already read that... 

Make it pretty:



I have to admit, I was hoping for make it ugly when it came to this one. I could hear it: detuned guitars and feedback all the way to buggery... But that didn't happen, I got make it pretty instead.

Oof, how was I going to do something interesting with this chord progression, and make it pretty?

I spent hours fiddling around with my delay pedal, hoping there'd be some magic setting that would make the I-V-vi-IV progression twinkly and new, but it was to no avail, it still sounded bland.

Another few hours and a computer malfunction later, I had reached some sort of compromise.  By reversing the chord progression I had this roomy backdrop to work with. It wasn't pretty per-say, but added an eeriness that sounded sort of beautiful, to me at least. And after that was down, I just noodled around with it for a bit, adding things, taking them away. So on and so forth.

Overall, I wouldn't say it turned out that pretty, but it's been a fun challenge, and I learnt a few lessons on the way... most importantly: save, save, save.

Make it ugly:

This had to be easy. Do an ugly portrait of my cats. My inability to paint has that one covered already. It wasn't 'til I sat down and gave it some "proper thought" that I realised that I had absolutely no ideas. Zilch. Nowt... 

Then after a ruminate:

"Oh hang on, I'll just draw my face on my cats bodies. Yeah, that sounds ugly enough. I could have it so I'm licking my arsehole! Hohoho..."

 

 

...Erm, no. 

I have this knack of going with the first, daft idea I have. Take the easy way out for a cheap laugh that never comes. So I pulled myself together and went back to the drawing board, and these are what came out.

These monochrome fighting felines where partly inspired by Georg Baselitz's simple but energetic silhouettes, and 'Two Fighting Insects' by Tadek Beutlich, which we're lucky enough to have in our dining room. The ugly experience of my own brawling moggys also acted as inspiration I'm sure.

Y'know, they're messy, they're inaccurate, some of the cats look like dogs, some like blobs, but the more I live with them the more I enjoy them being stuck on the wall. And it's because of 'The Furry Gamble' that they exist.

All-in-all, 'The Furry Gamble' works! However it still gives me a lot of creative freedom. What if that was diminished, or even removed all together? What if I had no control over the outcome?

Hmmm...

- The Wormling

The Furry Gamble - Part One

Over the coming months I plan to elaborate on a number of experiments that play with the idea of chance (or aleatoricism, if you like) and its role in the creative process. Usually when starting a creative endeavour, be it doing a doodle, writing a story, or putting together a piece of music, I'd begin with a fixed idea on how something is going to be, or a concept in which to work up from, rarely is something left to chance. But what if these decisions were already decided by the throw of a dice or a pick out of a hat?

My first experiment draws from Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies - a set of cards with artistic directions, that encourage lateral thinking towards creative dilemmas - and The Wasp Factory from the novel of the same name by Iain Banks - a crude future telling device, in which a wasp is placed and forced to choose one of twelve trapdoors. Behind each trapdoor there's a deadly end for the wasp (fire, spider, being pissed on, etc.) and the way it dies has significant meaning to the Factory's maker, Frank.

Before you start, I don't intend to wizz on any wasps, but the thought of a creature making choices for me, well that could work couldn't it?

So without further ado here are the felines that are going to aid me in my first test, and the undisputed stars of this post: Bootsy Mann (Left) & Mousey Brown (Right)...

Yes they've got surnames, what of it?

Anyway, by merging the theme of the Oblique Strategies and running with the idea of my cats giving me creative direction, I came up with The Furry Gamble: A creative problem solving exercise which puts creative direction in the hands, or should I say, paws, of animals. The process involves placing a handful of treat enclosed envelopes, each with its own creative direction, in front of a co-operative critter and waiting to see which envelope it chooses.

The directions I picked for my first test are: make it ugly, make it pretty, make it simple, and make it complex. Why? Because they feel both broad enough to work with and specific enough to be constrained by.

As for the all important creative "dilemmas":

Dilemma a.) I plumped for the I-V-vi-IV chord progression, in a attempt to do something interesting with a common musical formula.

As my cats are helping me out, I figured for dilemma b.) I'd do a portrait of them. Which if I'm honest, doesn't sit easy as I personally find the idea of it a little too cute, and dare I say it, naff. But "Wou-Wou..." is about pushing myself into uneasy territory, so I guess it's the right thing to do.

And to prove chivalry isn't dead, the direction of dilemma a.) will be determined by Mouse, and dilemma b.) Bootsy. 

Right then, enough blather, it's experimentin' time...

That's that then. Do something pretty with the ol' I-V-vi-IV and do an ugly animal portrait... that shouldn't be too hard. 

Come back next week for the results, if you like.


- The Wormling

P.S. In case you enjoyed it, 'Sassafras' (the track on the vid) is now available as a free download from the 'Wou-Wou & The Wormling' SoundCloud page here, or if you're feeling lazy, at the bottom of this blog.