Menu
An essential ingredient to any creative pursuit, inspiration is often spoken of as a mystical state of euphoria experienced by artistic greats not something that can be fostered. Regularly mentioned in terms of being “struck” by inspiration – purveying an illusive nature, seeming only chance able is in fact quite the contrary.
Inspiration can and should be in great supply to the modern artist, the option to consume a mind boggling array of input exists like never before leaving only intention and mindset as obstacles to an ever flowing stream of inspirational experience, so what may be standing in the way?
Grind vs Feel
If you feel ideas are not coming quickly mid session, or that you can’t get excited by any material you make – you have probably stopped “feeling” your work and started doing it out of habit.
Whilst a lot can be said for grinding away in the studio, outworking others – if inspiration lacks, time spent working can be highly inefficient.
Developing a work habit in the first place has huge value but creators must be decided in making time between work sessions to recharge their batteries .
If this is you, the rest of this article and series to follow should come as a welcome breath of fresh air.
Be the Audience
When creating, part of the process is to reflect on the works progress, to assess it’s completeness or to judge progress in earlier stages, being able to act as the audience toward your own piece at each stage of reflection is essential. The key to this may be different for all but the obvious action to take is that of the section’s title. Be the audience.
Find yourself some art and be the audience, take it in, enjoy it, hate it, analyse it. Reconnect with what it is to understand your medium as an audience removed from any personal attachment to the art itself. From this perspective discernment can exist and inspiration may continue to develop throughout the creative process.
It is worth noting that it may not be your chosen working medium that allows you to act as an audience most efficiently. Taking a walk in a new environment with the intention of focusing on the visual or the sounds or the combination as an audience could provide the same thing just as listening to music may inspire a visual artist.
Connect with people
Artists certainly have a reputation for enjoying their own company a little more than is healthy and it can be that the simple act of escaping ones own mind and learning more about the experience of others can be inspiring in itself. If not inspiring a reminder that time spent being creative is something you love!