What Gets Your Creative Juices Flowing?
I often finish my columns mentioning “inspiration,” an ever-present theme throughout my day-to-day living.
Sure, I have some typical influences, like yellow, my cat, sci-fi movies (both good and not-so-much, even though both ends of the spectrum are equally satisfying to me). But many other things also hit the senses and prod conceptual thoughts, much like a small pebble in one’s shoe. And small things can be quite noticeable. Powerful, even.
While enjoying the aurora through the window at Edna’s of Asheville on a recent morning, at my favorite table enjoying my favorite short Americano in my favorite lime green mug (eccentric much? MOI?), I looked it up. INSPIRATION. There were many definitions to peruse and pick through, and the descriptive bits that grabbed me most were “bringing about”, and, perhaps more deeply, “infusing”.
In Waynesville, I asked Gallery 262 owner Aaron Stone what the term means to him. Despite my somewhat Ninja-Attack inquiry style, he fielded it beautifully: “Something that touches the soul and goes beyond the tangible.”
A whole trousseau unpacked in one sentence. I, too, feel it goes beyond, somehow, and then boomerangs back to our physical plane as we create, collect and share. When I get an idea for a drawing or a series or a show, while I’m certainly aware of life’s influences, I’m also shocked sometimes at how fast ideation, and hence my art, flows through me.
I’m also stimulated by wordplay and flowing phrases, as well as by old favorite books and unusual dictionaries. And the hand-written word is a thrill in our digital age – an unexpected note the other day from an old friend motivated me to draw something new. A happy phone call can trigger that response in me, too.
I’m lucky enough to have a few BFF’s who know everything about me. You know the type, where if either friend suddenly passed on, the other wouldn’t have to worry that we may have left something unexpressed? Muses, they are.
And a synchronicity that’s going on all the time rocks my world. Sometimes I’m privileged enough to be granted a bit of awareness to notice it. Same with that visceral energy that runs through everything, plugging everyone’s spiritual and scientific paths into one grid. High voltage!
The difficulties humans face can also serve to motivate. Oppositional viewpoints, ethical questions, scary doctor visits, financial crises, the loss of precious things. Alternatively, our compassion as we ache for others who go through these events can propel us into action, too.
Coming back around into lighter times is also good fodder, akin to a ray of sunshine on the porch in spring. As we absorb lessons, we realize how we can help others. And sometimes the birds are chirping and the breeze is light and there’s a little touch of something like an angel’s wingtips tickling the edge of an ear as we curl up like a cat on his favorite yellow blankie. Regeneration.
Of course I’m also spurred-on by my fellow creators, and the arts communities within Asheville, throughout WNC and across the country. All these Makers are living, breathing examples of how inspiration combined with sweat-equity yields awesome visual results. Beauty flows, and I’m dichotomously stunned and invigorated. By all of it.
I hope you get a chance to ask yourself: “What inspires me?” and use both the question and the never-ending answers that follow as insightful guides on your path!
