Affordances: tua rua

26^th September

Affordances as described by Crepeau (2003) are. "A quality of an object, or an environment, that allows an individual to perform an action” here we are going to break affordances into another three categories to look at my activity painting in more depth. The three areas will be spirituality, aesthetics and history, but first a story... J

On Sunday it was such a good day all I wanted to do was sit out in the sun and soak up some rays. I felt a bit guilty not doing any school work so figured it would be the perfect opportunity to get some drawing in. So I found my sketch pad, pencils, eraser, sunscreen and sunnies before making a cosy wee pozzy out the front of the flat. I set up my music as usual and got to it. I spent a good few hours out there and lucky for me the sunscreen worked a treat. I did quite a few sketches of birds and feathers as well as having a bit of a play with charcoal which I found very difficult to use. While drawing I began to think about how I choose what I am going to draw as that can always take some time and I suppose this leads nicely into aesthetics as you want what you are drawing to be something nice to look at.

Aesthetics: when looking at aesthetics in regards to painting can see how it relates enormously as it is concerned with beauty and being able to express it. When painting I am always concerned about aesthetics and checking if things look good. I always think about what I am going to draw before I do it and think of what I want my finished product to look like. Thinking about aesthetics when painting I need to consider many things such as texture colour and size and try and make each element fit together to make something beautiful.

Spirituality: When looking at painting under spirituality I am looking at the feelings I get from this activity and how it connects me with the universe. I find this hard to explain but I found a quote which has a perfect explanation of how painting and drawing makes me feel...

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” - Pablo Picasso

With this in mind art to me is a way to forget everything else that is going on and relax. With art it brings me happiness and allows me to connect with others. Art connects me significantly to my family as me and my brother often draw together and dad always has projects for me to do (like helping him paint murals in his classroom). I recently painted a picture for my boyfriend’s koro. He asked me to paint a mountain which was very special to him as he had spent many years living close to it. This was a huge honour to me because I know how much this mountain means to him and I had been told the story of the ‘Mountain of tears’ many times. By doing this I felt that I had created a connection for him to have with the land that he had left. He explained to me that he plans to pass the painting down through the generations.

History: This links nicely with my story above as with art you are able to tell stories and in koro’s case link back to your own or others history. Painting has been around for a very long time and has evolved so much. I have been doing paintings and drawings for almost forever I suppose I learnt from my dad as he has always had a love for art.

References:

Crepeau E. ( 2003 ). Analyzing occupation and activity: A way of thinking about occupational performance. In Crepeau E., Cohn E, & Schell B (Eds.), Willard and Spackman’s occupational therapy ( 10th ed., pp.189-198). Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins

Pablo Picasso. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved October 22, 2011, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/pablopicas162882.html