In this episode, we pull another card from Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt’s legendary Oblique Strategies deck — this time landing on the deceptively simple prompt:

“Do something sudden.”

Joined by painter Eric J. Drummond, the conversation turns into an exploration of improvisation, instinct, risk, and the strange balance between structure and spontaneity in creative work.

We talk about the paralysis that comes from overthinking, why artists sometimes need to force movement before they fully understand where they’re going, and how “suddenness” can break creative stagnation.

Eric reflects on the tension between the rigid technical training he teaches students and the fluid, intuitive process he actually uses in his own drawing and painting practice. From gesture drawing to improvisational mark-making, the discussion explores how mistakes, accidents, and risk often become the doorway to something alive.

Timestamps:

00:08 — Introduction to Oblique Strategies and the “Do something sudden” card

02:24 — Overthinking, instinct, and breaking creative paralysis

04:04 — Improvisation, happy accidents, and fluid drawing

06:28 — Forced momentum and creating without hesitation

07:43 — Brutal artistic critique and learning through reaction

10:16 — Risk, spontaneity, and disrupting creative comfort zones

12:16 — The Beatles, improvisation, and art as play

15:13 — Jazz, Pollock, and letting the work evolve naturally

16:30 — Characters, paintings, and works “taking on a life of their own”

18:17 — Horror, artistic limits, beauty vs violence, and the role of improvisation