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Writer's picturecarolyn land

That Aha Moment

The act of creation is a kind of ritual.  The origins of art and human existence lie hidden in the mystery of creation.  Human creativity reaffirms and mystifies the power of life.”                                       Keith Harding

I have been writing about that state of “nothingness” that we fall into upon occasion.  From the emails I received there are a lot of readers who have had or are experiencing it, for a variety of reasons. In Blog 112  I made a list of ways you can get in touch with your right brain to get your creative juices flowing.

One point I made in the last blog was that creativity is building on something that we already know; to use that knowledge in a different way. That is why one of the ways I listed, to get it going, is to take an object which we know and list all the different ways you can use it. It takes the factual knowledge of something from the left brain, and reworks it in a creative innovative way in the right brain. However, it is good to know that when you are in that state of “nothingness”, you may be channeling your creative energy in other directions without realizing it: trying something new in the kitchen, gardening, rearranging a room, sewing. knitting.

Now what happens after we feel that need to create again?  We need inspiration!  Inspiration comes from a much deeper source. We get it from the passion we feel for a specific subject or thing that we want to talk about in our creations. It is the fire in our belly! It is different for all of us, but as artists we all have something that motivates us; that moves us to create. The quickest way to feel it, is to visit it. That’s why it is so important for us to know why we paint. Seek out your passion.  It could be interpersonal relationships, people, animals, history, music, color, texture, flowers, the ocean, architecture, nature.


If you have followed along for any length of time, you know by now that my passion is nature and texture.  The lines forms, colors, and texture that I can see in the small space of my vision is what motivates my work. After two weeks of nothingness and I smacked myself on the side of the head and got myself back in the studio, I started moving things around.  It was the feel of the paper, the bark, the seed pods pilled on my drafting table that shot that spark through me. It was all I needed to start creating again. Here I was surrounded by all those textural elements that I love, and my “aha” moment came.

“Palm Bark Inspiration”    Collage


If you are experiencing a creative block, do some contour drawing, doodle, find an everyday object and make lists of creative ways to use it, put a mark of paint on a paper and respond to it, verbally or physically. Get the creative juices going, then go immerse yourself in what inspires you to paint.

What moves men of genius, or rather what inspires their work, is not new ideas but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is just not enough.”                                                        Eugene Delacroix

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