I am always intrigued to watch my friend Duncan Stewart paint. He is a phenomenal artist who is driven as much by the message behind the work as the work itself. There are some interesting insights I have garnered from him over the years.

Interestingly enough, as I consider these principles my mind is drawn to the mentorship relationship and the lessons we can take into our sessions.

Before I go any further, I must admit that I am not an artist and I have no training in the arts. I do have a deep love and appreciation for artistic expression; I apologise if I misrepresent or incorrectly phrase any aspect of the artistic process -this is not intended.

The artist’s journal
As much as I love the final work that Duncan produces, I love his journals even more. Essentially, the artist’s journal is an illustrated diary around any number of concepts or themes. The diary forms a record of thoughts, images, quotations, etchings, concepts, research and more that buoys up the artist’s understanding and depth of thinking in relation to the theme he or she is working on.
I have seen that the more time Duncan spends exploring the theme in his journals, the more impact the final product has. My gut feel about why this happens is this:

I believe that the more work Duncan does in his journals, the more integrated and authentic the concept for the work becomes in his heart, mind and soul. When he then comes to putting brush to canvas, the combination of his skill and the energy within him flows into a painting that cannot help but impact the viewer.

At his exhibitions, it is not uncommon for one to spend hours perusing the journals discovering the nuances of the journey to produce a particular product.

Practically speaking
So what does this mean in a mentorship relationship? All too often we place too much emphasis on the final product and not enough emphasis on the journey that the individual has taken to reach a particular point.

It may be useful to ask your mentee to keep a mentorship journal. This journal can help the mentee document the thoughts, inspiration, challenges and stimuli that have affected and are affecting them in their work.

They could bring this journal with them to the sessions and have a reference to speak to about the various aspects of their workplace experience. The benefits would be vast for the mentee and the depth of conversation that would flow as a result of having a reference such as this one.

Now go deeper
I met Duncan when he was a creative director in an agency. He spoke deeply of a passion to pursue fine arts, yet he wasn’t a young man who could frivolously ‘chuck it all up’ to pursue this dream. Despite this he followed his passion. It was not some blind leap of faith; rather, it was a conscious exploration into the ideal channel that would lead him to his dream. Duncan elected to go to Florence in Italy to study. This decision didn’t come lightly and it had many challenges in store for him, but in the end he followed his dream and traded off the negatives to accomplish his legacy.

While he was studying, he would return home and reflect on the things he was learning. One particular anecdote stood out to me. He had a lecturer who would critique a painting that he was working on. She would start by considering the whole piece. She would then step in, holding up her thumbs and index fingers, and she would form a box. She would then hold the “box” over a small part of a painting (ignoring the rest) and say, “This looks interesting…reproduce this little section on a much larger canvas.” And so he would. This process would sometimes be repeated a number of times, each time forcing him to look more deeply at his work.

As a mentor
I wonder if we can’t take this principle into our mentorship sessions. Essentially, it would require a mentor to do the following:

a) Assess the whole picture that the mentee is representing to you (a story, a challenge, a desire).
b) Home in on an aspect that you think has promise/needs exploring.
c) Get the mentee to investigate, elaborate, and explore that aspect a little more.
d) Repeat the exercise.

Who knows what you could discover?

Should you be interested in viewing Duncan’s work, please visit www.duncanstewart.co.za

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