Painting Time: Metaphor in creative process

This first-person research examines the painter’s description of embodied practice. The thesis proposes that embodied descriptions of process may be found in metaphor, grounding this methodology on recent research in the cognitive unconscious and phenomenological methods of first-person access to lived experience. For the purposes of this study, I situate myself as subject, conducting a close reading and reflective examination of my painting process in order to gain insight into the essential aspects of the artist’s description of experience. The methodology investigates correlations between reflexive self-observation and its inscription in language. I use this method to provide an account of pragmatic practice. The thesis proposes a preliminary formulation of descriptors of qualitative experience that may help to inform development of interactive technologies.