Inspiration and Creativity

One of the big issues we painters struggle with is what to paint, and/or the presence of creativity. One of my friends has a blog titled "Inspiration is for Amateurs". I think it means that you paint even though you have no inspiration or sense of creativity. The idea is to go to the studio and work. I have done this with disastrous results and have found that I show up for work but my Genius has not. I show up the next day and the next until my Genius returns and then we get some real work done. The Genius is that mysterious thing that makes the work creative and more than it possibly can be without the Genius.

Working without the aid of your Genius turns the work into something you create simply to please or to sell. It is not a part of you. You risk becoming a hack.

I believe the saying, "Inspiration is for Amateurs", is suggesting that you show up for work and become available for the Genius. I think that inspiration and creativity is for the professional. Show up for work every day. And a great day is when that inspiration and creativity comes through you in a rush and you know that great moment, that wonderful moment of pure delight, of brushing up against something great.

That thing, that Genius, is best described by Elizabeth Gilbert. Here is a video of her idea of creativity.

"Each day, life presents us with much more than we can understand. If we chase after everything that makes us curious, we would have no time for the part of life we do understand.

An Understanding of what is important comes to you if you are patient." Quote from Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz