Creativity doesn't wait for that perfect moment.
It fashions its own perfect moments out of ordinary ones.
-Bruce Garrabrandt
Art supplies can be just as beautiful as the art created from them. These Caran d’Ache Neocolor II water soluble pastels are one of my favorite examples. I love to just run my fingers over them.
I haven’t been feeling inspired this week. At all. My bones have been feeling like someone snuck in while I was sleeping and filled them with lead. All I wanted to do was lie in bed and continue my Outlander binge. (Said binge, maaaaaay have had a causal relationship to my lethargic mood and lack of motivation. More on why, in a bit.)
I woke up this morning thinking “Oh, it’s Saturday...I better get on this. I need to have it ready to go for Monday Morning.” (The joke is on me. I lost a day somewhere, and I’m now doing this all on late Sunday afternoon.) The problem was, I still wasn’t feeling inspired. I had no idea what to write about, or what photo I wanted to take.
I decided to go into my craft room, where I have a jumble of things set up in front of the window to do still life. My intent was to play around and see what happened. I started with a tiny vase of dried flowers, then pulled out a can of paint brushes and a few tubes of paint, then decided to play with the wax pastels you see above. Each set up led me deeper into the process, in the experience of what I was doing.
That’s when I realized what this week’s topic would be - creating inspiration rather than waiting on it. I read a clever quote long ago that said basically that if you are waiting for inspiration, that you aren’t an artist, you’re a waiter. I’ve rediscovered the truth of it over and over through the decades, today being only the latest in a long string of reminders that I am in control of how inspired I feel.
The more I create, the more creative I feel. The less I create, the less creative I feel. Any small act can lead to the next, and like winding a ball of yarn, it eventually becomes much larger than what you started with. (Remember how I suggested that my Outlander binge may have caused my lack of inspiration? This is why. Whatever we are doing is what we want to keep doing, unless we get bored.)
If you don’t feel inspired, do something small to open the window to your curiosity. Find a single interesting object. Pull out your cell phone and take a photo of it from above, then down at an angle, then straight on, then looking up at an angle. Turn it (or move around it) for a different view. Move your phone a few millimeters this way or that way and see how different it looks. Step out of the “one and done” mentality and explore. Can you make us see it in a way we don’t usually see it? Can you make us think? For example, what if your thing were a beat up old baseball, and you decided to add a pair of worn out pointe shoes with tattered laces? That would be a very different story.
Paint brushes are another thing I like to play with, just to feel the texture as I run my hand over them. What textures inspire you?
This week’s invitation:
Find an object that you’re interested in and use your camera, cell phone, or art supplies to capture it from different angles. Or write 10 separate sentences about the object and pick the best three to share, or use one as a writing prompt. Tell us what you discover in the process!
Use the hashtag #seektinydelights and tag me on Instagram or Facebook @thekimfluence so we can all be inspired by it!
On my mind:
I am a sucker for a good story. Once I am caught up in one, I don’t want to let it go, until it’s done. (See above.) And, even then, I mourn it’s ending. I know this about myself, so I have to be cautious about how often I begin a tv series or a book. I choose them carefully.
A thing may not have reached its final expression of beauty, and still be beautiful enough to take someone’s breath away. Think of the acorn. Is it any less magical, in it’s own way, than the oak it will eventually become?
We can’t always be ON. We have to allow periods of rest. Sometimes for longer periods than we may like. At the same time, we have to be wary of lingering there out of habit or sluggishness. There is an ebb and flow to it all that needs to be honored.