The wanderers began by happen-chance. Three of us started our
own small plein air painting/sketching group out in the real world. Soon after
Victoria began it first lock down and after a couple of rocky test, we started
meeting on zoom on Wednesday at 10:00am. It was a welcome get together and we
started painting a shared photo supplied by one of the participants since it
was the free zoom meeting we only had 40 minutes for the session before we got
cut off. Not a lot of time to carry out a watercolour painting of a scene you
had not seen before.
The Watercolours Society of Victoria had purchased the Pro
version of zoom and kindly allowed us to use their service so we were no longer
bound by the 40 minute limit but kept the rough timing and format.
There is a Chinese proverb attributed to Lao Tzu
“If you are depressed you
are living in the past.
If you are anxious you are living in the future.
If you are at peace you are living in the present.”
It is this being in the present when you are painting, that
probably explains lot of the popularity of the Wanderers
 |
| Mihaly Explains [watercolour on Canvas by Norm Hanson] |
I believe it has a lot to do with helping the participants
slip into what the Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi identified and calls
the Flow State. In which the duration of time is altered, hours pass in minutes,
minutes can stretch out to seem like hours.
After interviewing many successful people for his study of
the Psychology of Optimal Experience, he concluded that there were seven common
experiences shared by these people. He calls these the Elements of Enjoyment
- Confronted by a task, with a chance of
completing it.
- Be able to concentrate on the task
- Task has a clear goal
- Immediate Feedback
- Could participate with a deep but effortless
involvement (remove from the constraints and frustration of every day life)
- Be enjoyable (allowing people to exercise
control over the actions)
- Concern for self disappears
(yet paradoxically the feeling of self emerges stronger after the flow is over.
Mihaly liked to explain this in two dimensions, the challenge
versus skills.
He believes you can
most easily move into flow if you are aroused (but anxious) by the challenge
and you take the opportunity to practise and improve your skills, or you are confident in your skill (but
bored) until you get inspired by the challenge. Flow occurs when a task’s
challenge is balanced with one’s skill.
A very important aspect of the Wanderers is the group
dynamic. Mihaly studied and advised many sporting groups including the
successful Australian Women’s Hockey
team, Australian Olympics cyclists and ice skaters. He lists these important characteristics
for teams to Achieve Flow and thus improve their collective performance by
achieving group flow.
- Group empathy (including helping others to achieve their desired
performance)
- Activity has clear goal
- Opportunity to be both autonomous and at the same time cooperating
in the group.
- Immediate feedback (both personally and shared with the
team)
- Skill required matches the difficulty of the task. Some
individuals can focus on different skills
Whilst we were not always in focused together, and seldom on
all aspects. Those participating were generally focussed in the present
challenge testing their skills and often reaching the flow state. Mihaly says it is this flow that allows the
enjoyment of experiencing that you are good at something while you are doing
it. It didn’t matter so much if you had or had not finished or looked the same
as others.
Norm Hanson
Febraury 2022
