People ask me this all the time and I don't always have a ready answer, mainly because there's no pat answer. One source is obvious from looking at my work: nature, my garden.
But creativity and inspiration are not always a fertile plot of ground for me to pick from, like my garden at the height of summer. There are plenty of times when I'm staring at a lump of clay or a piece ready to be decorated and feel blank... like this lovely spot in my garden (at the height of summer):
This is where poppies and tulips are planted. So it looks fabulous in April-May, but then completely dies off. This area needs work.
So, when I'm feeling dull, idea-less, there's a few things that I turn to besides gardening or getting outside. I visit a gallery or museum, or websites of favorite artists. One great source of inspiration is my bookshelf:
So, when I'm feeling dull, idea-less, there's a few things that I turn to besides gardening or getting outside. I visit a gallery or museum, or websites of favorite artists. One great source of inspiration is my bookshelf:
A way to spark new ideas and feel inspired again is to look at great art, classic or contemporary. Lark Books puts out an excellent 500 series in a variety of disciplines. Not much information, no how-to, just beautiful photos of fabulous work.
Another source is a notebook I keep of drawings. Once in a while there's an idea in it that struck out of the blue - a lucky lightning strike; but mostly it's intentional effort... trying to think of new ways to execute a particular form that I may have been cranking out for a while, or just ideas for a form in general, like tiles or vases. Check out James Altucher (www.jamesaltucher.com). He's an entrepreneur who is big on coming up with 10 new ideas on anything every day to build the creative muscle. At first, for weeks, even, nothing comes and it feels frustrating and dry. Then pretty bad ideas start to flow; eventually better ones, and then maybe even a good one. And it's often tempting to give up before #10.
Similar to James Altucher, Alyson Stanfield (www.artbizcoach.com) says that good writers are not born, they get that way with practice. That's encouraging to me when I sit down to write something like this and wish someone else would just do it for me. Julia Cameron, who wrote The Artist's Way (www.juliacameronlive.com) also says that the way to overcome creativity blocks is to write for a half-hour everyday, just write, don't worry if it's dribble, in fact, get out all the dribble and excuses, just write. She says that it works for every creative discipline, not just writing.
All that just says what I consider to be the biggest source of inspiration: practice. The more I do something, doing it when it's tedious, not just when it's fun, the more the ideas flow. I can think of several examples of not just new ideas, but ideas that were built on and evolved. I will share more on that in the next post.
Another source is a notebook I keep of drawings. Once in a while there's an idea in it that struck out of the blue - a lucky lightning strike; but mostly it's intentional effort... trying to think of new ways to execute a particular form that I may have been cranking out for a while, or just ideas for a form in general, like tiles or vases. Check out James Altucher (www.jamesaltucher.com). He's an entrepreneur who is big on coming up with 10 new ideas on anything every day to build the creative muscle. At first, for weeks, even, nothing comes and it feels frustrating and dry. Then pretty bad ideas start to flow; eventually better ones, and then maybe even a good one. And it's often tempting to give up before #10.
Similar to James Altucher, Alyson Stanfield (www.artbizcoach.com) says that good writers are not born, they get that way with practice. That's encouraging to me when I sit down to write something like this and wish someone else would just do it for me. Julia Cameron, who wrote The Artist's Way (www.juliacameronlive.com) also says that the way to overcome creativity blocks is to write for a half-hour everyday, just write, don't worry if it's dribble, in fact, get out all the dribble and excuses, just write. She says that it works for every creative discipline, not just writing.
All that just says what I consider to be the biggest source of inspiration: practice. The more I do something, doing it when it's tedious, not just when it's fun, the more the ideas flow. I can think of several examples of not just new ideas, but ideas that were built on and evolved. I will share more on that in the next post.
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