Inspiration, a word that conjures up visions of sudden insight, grand ideas and lofty goals. We often think it just strikes us randomly on a Wednesday afternoon and hope it strikes often enough to keep our creative pursuits going. When inspiration seems to be lacking, we can often spiral into negative emotions and thinking. “I’ll never create good things again”, “My work will never be the same”, I’m washed up.” Most of us, I think, know the reoccurring thoughts that plague us when inspiration is fleeting. Whether our creative pursuits are hobbies, passions, or money making, these phases hit us in our own times.
But what if we approach inspiration from a different angle. What if we could capture inspiration whenever we need it? I believe we can create our own inspiration resources while also leaving ourselves open to those small moments that can be the spark to light the fires of creativity. I am a multi-creative, which means I find myself creating across multiple mediums. I started cross-stitching at 9, progressed to sewing and quilting as a teenager, taught myself knitting and crochet in my early thirties and then taught myself to draw in my late thirties. Also, I’m slowly learning how to paint at 39. While I am pursuing drawing and painting as a means to make a living, I still regularly dip into all of the above activities. And I believe that’s important for me, I have gained so much inspiration for my drawing from my other creative pursuits. I don’t think everyone needs 5 or 6 other creative outlets; it can get a little crazy. But I think at least one more pursuit outside of the main one can help our minds relax and be more open to inspiration from all around us.
Another important part to cultivating my own inspiration is learning a bit about myself. We need to learn what inspires us. For me personally I like drawing nature inspired things
with a little fantasy sprinkled in sometimes. So, I go out in nature. I take walks, go to the park and observe whenever I can. I take A LOT of pictures, collect things like fallen leaves and flowers and sometimes take written notes. I purposefully gather the things that I know bring me inspiration, so that I have them when need be.
One more thing that helps me is learning to live in the present. I know it’s almost a cliché saying by now, but I find it does work. It’s not necessarily easy but I try really hard to pay attention to the now, especially when I am interacting with other people. My mind is always moving and thinking, so I do have to be very self-aware and catch myself from wandering away from the moment at hand. But the more I learn to live in the present I find myself being inspired by the smallest moments that I would have missed if I hadn’t been paying attention. The colors of a sunset, the delicate flutter of a butterfly’s wings, the texture of fabric from my couch; all of these I have used in my artwork. Just by being present and living life inspiration is found.
The last two things are rest and doing nothing. Rest for me is not just getting enough sleep but other activities that do not involve “work.” Reading a book for pleasure, any of my hobbies, watching a movie with my youngest, things that are just for fun. I have been learning how to do nothing, just sitting and relaxing. I do admit this is hard for me as my hands always feel the need to be occupied. But I’m working on it, and I have found my mind is able to come up with its own inspiration and flesh out ideas that have been bouncing around in there. I am still surprised when this happens but keep a notebook close by to write things down.
As time goes on, I hope to always be inspired even if the sources and outcomes change and evolve as I live.
I would be very interested in hearing how y’all keep inspiration flowing or what you do when you want to be inspired but find it lacking.
Thanks for being here and as always give yourself grace, kindness and patience until we meet again.
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