Twyla Tharp

Scratching, according to Twyla Tharp, is the process of brainstorming through making a series of small projects. Scratching is meant to help you generate ideas without fear of judgment or criticism. Twyla Tharp thinks that scratching is important because an artist needs to have time for them to just create without thought or judgment sometimes. It may be that all of the brainstorms are thrown out, or it mat be that the brainstorming leads to a wonderful idea or spark for a great project. Either way it is important to work through the brainstorming process before beginning a long term in-depth project.

I would agree that brainstorming, or "scratching", is very important for any artist because it allows working without influence and without too much thought. I tend to doodle which for me, sometimes leads to great ideas for projects, although I tend to be very critical of myself a lot of times. I need to work on just letting myself work and not think about how it looks so much as what it is as a piece of art. I like the idea of just drawing or painting or what have you and not putting too much planning behind it. It is good to work through the creative process in a way that is not meant to be closely analyzed or criiticized, but I need to learn to let go and not criticize my own work.