Creative Spark

As an artist, one of the hardest things to combat is a creative block.  Like the more commonly understood writers' block, it sneaks in and stifles all ability to feel inspired.  It whispers that no matter what you make it's not good enough, not even worth the time you'll spend creating it.  What's worse is that you eventually begin to believe its lies, and stop trying.  So many talented artists fall prey to this phenomenon, believing that their muse or inspiration has dried up and left them - and they are nothing without it.  Some days I don't feel like creating anything more interesting than a good glass of iced tea and a well worn butt-shaped dent in my couch.  Some days I have absolutely no inspiration or motivation at all.  If I learned anything while working towards my BA in Painting, it is that even when you don't feel like creating anything - sit your butt down and do it anyway.  It's amazing to me how inspiration can come from the smallest things.  The way the wet paint moves under your brush, the way natural light picks normal things out of your mundane world to transform into flights of fancy, the way pattern emerges when none was intended.  By forcing myself to create something, anything, I have come up with some of my best ideas. 

Lately I've been struggling with painting.  I don't believe I've painting anything worth sharing in well over a year.  However, I've been exploring and playing with other media, other modes of thinking.  Overall, I think this is a healthier way of expressing my creativity than forcing myself to work in a medium that's just not speaking to me.  My mother's forays into paper arts and altered art have inspired many a fun project.  My friends in the SCA have shared their works in progress and helping brain storm solutions to problems has led me down an entirely different road to the creation of something new and different (maybe for the SCA, maybe not).  Pinterest is dangerous for me, because I can borrow others' inspiration and wind up reproducing instead of recreating ideas I find fascinating.  You get the difference?  When I take something someone else has done and copy that, even when it doesn't look exactly the same, I'm reproducing.  When I take something someone else has done and use it as a jumping platform for my own expression and inspiration, I'm recreating.  Re-imagining,  Reshaping and Recycling.

No images to share today... just the thought.  :)