Drums Along The Nile. Digital 2021.

This painting was created in a Flow state. According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, psychologist and discoverer of Flow, this state is recognizable by 6 characteristics:

  1. Complete concentration on a limited field of creativity or information. Attention locked onto the task. Enjoyment in the here and now.
  2. Merging of action and awareness. No longer able to separate the doer from the activity being done.
  3. Sense of Self vanishing. In flow our sense of self melts, or even at times disappears.
  4. Altered sense of time. Time may slow down or speed up depending on the person and the activity.
  5. Sense of control. We become the pure energy of creativity.
  6. The activity is its own reward. We may have a specific goal, such as remuneration for our efforts, but the pure act of creativity brings its own joy.
  7. We will experience joy spontaneously arising from within. This could be analyzed in terms of brain chemistry and neuroscience, but the process of Flow will always have an element of mystery or we could say: the Mystical!
  8. Instagram: RobZentaur1