As an artist, inspiration is my lifeline. My creative side needs that trigger, that source from which the imagination can expand and deepen, and I can push past what I have done before. I find that with inspiration the work that I do stays fresh, fun, and lively.
Often inspiration comes while I'm rushing about in my daily life. As a mother to three young and very rambunctious boys, any spare time I have is often occupied, so I must find inspiration on the fly. I am very grateful that most days I'm able to find something that inspires me and makes me excited to get to the easel. Sometimes it's when I'm walking the boys to school and the morning sun shines through the branches, dancing on the leaves so beautifully making me want to paint the essence of that sparkle. Other times while driving on the highway, the shades of pinks and lavender intermingled in the clouds makes me want to translate this into a soothing and tranquil harmony of colors. And in the winter, when the stark grey days unfold to more stark grey days, I find myself pushing into more vibrant colors on my palette, thrilled to bring huge blooming flowers to life on my canvas as the snow drifts about outside.
While some days inspiration may come easily, I still must always keep a focus on feeding my creativity, because there will be days that inspiration is lacking and therefore my imagination feels stale. And I bet I'm not the only one out there who works at this. So I thought I'd share with you ways I do this - ways I push myself to release my imagination farther and find the inspiration or the path to more creativity. Here are my top 5 ways:
1. Work from Black and White When I paint in my studio, I find using black and white photos so helpful. Yes studio time vs painting plein air doesn't compare, but sometimes life or weather just doesn't permit being on location outside. So to push the limits while I'm in the studio, I have found working from a black and white photo allows me to let go of the colors as prescribed by nature, and be free with my choices. After all, everything changes when you take the meadow from a lush green to a bright red!
2. Set a Time Limit I love to give myself a set amount of time that I have to work. The amount of time is always short, usually an hour or less. This really helps with letting go of the goal of creating something good, because the goal of producing great work actually impedes on creative freedom, which in turn, limits the potential a painting has. Usually when I paint like this, racing the clock, I find myself energized and full of ideas by the end. I love the spontaneity of the work and often will leave the painting raw and unfinished, because there is something beautiful in that.
3. Make things fun. If I'm happier, I'm more relaxed, and when I'm more relaxed, I can access a deeper level of my creativity. A good way to get access to a deeper level of creativity and to just enjoy yourself is to switch up how you do things. I sometimes just move my easel outside when I'm painting at home. Hearing the birds and that soft breeze makes it feel like I'm playing hooky as I'm painting away. Other times I throw on a great beat which usually means I need to take a minute to dance⦠seriously, I cant refuse a great beat.
4. Get out to Galleries and Museums I find what speaks to me most when I look at the amazing work of other artists, is when I see someone breaking free from the norm, either the norm of what they've done before or the norm of what I've seen before, be it with use of composition, color, subject matter, materials, or introducing new technology to the process. That's exciting to me and it screams inspiration. So anytime I leave a gallery or museum I am rushing with new ideas and can't wait to get to work!
5. Take Photos of Your Work While Painting I find that while I'm painting it is really helpful to take photos of my work. Somehow seeing it in a thumbnail size helps figure out compositional issues or what the painting is missing more easily. I can also switch to the black and white view to review tonal values and this offers a new perspective that can shake loose an idea on how to answer the needs of the painting. It also helps document the process, and can be a great reminder on when would have been a great time to stop working on a given painting! I'd love to hear ways you find your inspiration and keep your creativity flowing! Feel free to share.
----------------------------------------- You can view Faye's original post here. |