Inspiration

Have you ever had those days where no matter what, you’re just not inspired.  You don’t want to make anything, you don’t feel creative, and just going brain dead in front of the TV seems like a great idea.  And then, all of a sudden, ideas are just popping out all over the place, and you don’t have enough hands, or time, or materials to make them all (or at least experiment a bit) before you lose the muse.

That happened to me recently, and when the creative surge hit, it was with the force of a tsunami!

So what do you do? 

I’ve started to keep a sketch pad/notebook with me, just pocket sized.  When inspiration hits, I’ll scribble down the idea -sometimes in the form of “I wonder if I can….. and sometimes as a very rough sketch.  The last time inspiration hit I was in the middle of a course I was taking with a friend.  Not able to scribble or sketch, it drove me mad (and caused my friend great amusement, as she knew what was happening to me).  Seconds out of the class, out came the book, and down went the idea.

I’ve found this helpful in two ways. I don’t lose the idea, which happened far too often before.  It’s there for me when I can actually play.  And, when the fingers start to itch for a project, and the three muses are taking a day off I can go back to the book and see if something strikes me as “Yes!!  That’s it!”

Another thing I’m going to start doing is to haul along my camera.  I don’t want to take pictures of other peoples work (that’s cheating, and I want my inspiration, not someone elses) but I do want to take pictures of things I’d like to create – a snail on a branch, the way the light hits a stone on a railway tie, the sun caught in the clouds like a pearl in cotton.  All of these things and more can inspire you, and make you think, and it also refreshes the world for you – every day.

The third thing I love to get my creative juices flowing is to talk to a couple of my friends, who are also artisans, and incredibly talented.  We none of us share a discipline, but when you get us together the talk is all about “what ifs”, and ‘how abouts”, and “What do you think if we” – it’s great and I always go home refreshed and inspired.

What do you do?

Til next time, happy creating!

Add a comment September 9, 2009