  Creativity is thought to involve searching and selecting amongst multiple
discrete idea candidates. Honing theory predicts that it involves actualizing
the potentiality of as few as a single ill-defined idea by viewing it from
different contexts. This paper reports on a study that tests between these
theories. Participants were invited to "Create a painting that expresses
yourself in any style that appeals to you", and asked "Were all of your ideas
for your painting distinct and separate ideas?" Naive judges were provided with
descriptions of the two theories of creativity, sample answers, and practice
responses to classify. The judges were significantly more likely to classify
the artists' responses as 'H', indicative of honing theory rather than 'S'
indicative of a search-select view of creativity.
