I have read and heard many ideas on what inspiration is. For me, it is like trying to grasp the wind! How on earth can you put something into such mudane earthly terms that will actually explain it?!?!?
I do believe it is a good follow-up to that "perking" aspect of the creative process. I do think that all is flying around somewhere in the sphere of this global thing we call intellect, as well as this universal thing we call collective unconscisious! I have reached a place now, that if I don't want something thought of before me, I don't put it out there at all! How many times have you thought of a great idea, only to hear about it a day or two later somewhere! By this,I do not mean those who like to steal creative ideas! That is a very different thing! Here is a little story that taught me a great deal and why I am now much more appreciative of my creativity! I used to live in a little town in NS where every day I would walk out of the post office and look over at a blank brick wall, that to me, was crying for a mural! It turned out it was the centennial anniversary of this little university town and one of the profs (a female) listened to my ideas and gathered together a bunch of other profs (all older males) to walk through town looking at the walls I suggested would be ripe for murals including this one by the post office. In the meantime upon doing some research, I had met and become friends with an older man who used to do murals in another part of the country and had retired to this area I was now living. It was difficult having the sort of comments I had to endure from these older profs such as, "how can a little thing like you paint a big wall like that!?!?", however I ran into another problem I didn't realize until it was all said and done. I had idea about how this larger wall would be which I shared with the man that was in the same building as me as well as the man who used to do murals. I asked his advice on pricing as well...so see where this is heading?!?!? You got it! That so called re-tired asshole under bid me on the mural commissions not telling me he was even thinking of going for the job! Later, I asked my friend who lived in my building what I thought of the man's mural, his reply was, "you mean your mural, haven't you looked at it? It is all your ideas!!!". When I did look, I realized he was absolutely correct! The irony was, just like with his normal paintings, he, in his arrogance and ignorance, did not bother to learn what were, as my Master's instructor taught me,fugitive or not. He mixed oils and water based paints and enamels, etc which meant any painting anyone bought in a few years would fall off the canvas! He also did not size and prepare the wall properly and it was all gone withing five years...ALL of them! The point of this story is that techniques and styles and draftsmanship can be learned. ANYONE can pick up a pencil and learn how to see and draw it! (unless there is some physiological reason such as brain damage!), however creativity is another matter as is inspiration! I learned a long time ago when I was very young this fact and I worked to develop my creative side as much as any skill-sets I have ever learned. The thing is, if they go hand and hand, and you really immerse yourself into even the skills side, EVENTUALLY the creative side will flourish and with it the inspiration will come. Inspiration does not come with a closed mind or a fixed one. If you cannot be flexible in your thinking and seeing, then learning to think outside the box or to hear when the muses come knocking shall be impossible. Ask any song writer, singer, painter or writer, and all will tell you, they put it out there, they delved into the murky waters of what they were looking for and sooner or later something manifest. I have painted all my life and I, like so many, recognize when we have a "golden" painting. When that one painting just all falls into place. It isn't necessarily labored over or corrected over and over, it just seems to fall into place as if by magic. This is what I am talking about when I say, you have to get into it! Dabbling here and there every three years is not going to cut it! It is also why I didn't write much while I was working this past year! It takes me so long to get into the right mindset, and then even longer to get "into it". It isn't a facet I can turn on and off...not really. Oh, I can do it however I know I will not progress at all! Having said that though, I would like to note that look at any painter or other type of artist who has been COMPLETELY away from a medium for a year or so, sometimes longer...then see what happens! Nine times out of ten, they have not regressed, but progressed! I think this is just another example of that "perking" phase I was talking about! Funny though, I find this with creative things; as we mature, so does our work, if we are aiming for that, however when it comes to me technical and cerebral thinking, it doesn't seem to follow. For instance, I am going to have to format my next novel to get another proof since I changed it from past tense to present, and I don't mind saying, I do NOT look forward to it! That is a different kettle of fish altogether. I am going to have to learn that publishing program all over again. I kept notes in these earlier blogs however on what NOT to do so going back and reading will help refresh my mind. When it comes to your creative ideas, you don't need to share them...I learned that the hard way. Sure, you can share some things, but the ideas most inspired, keep them to yourself for a while and let them perk, then manifest them in whatever way you like, but just be aware, there are many very good "technical" people out there calling themselves artist who live off of other people's creative output. I for one, have had enough of that sort of thief to do me six life-times! Remember inspiration comes from daily life. You don't need to stand on your head or become a recluse, you just have to live and FEEL, then you will find the inspiration you seek and always it will be connected to what you want to share, what is closest to your heart and what is unique to you!
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June 2024
AuthorArtist, Buddhist, Educator, Traveller, Cabinet Maker, kayaker, etc and now writer! |