Where Does Art Come From?: How to Find Inspiration and Ideas

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ACKNOWLEDGE THE GIFTS YOU DON’T KNOW YOU HAVE

HAVE YOU EVER EXPERIENCED THE SENSE THAT something you are learning comes very easily and naturally? You may have had no prior clue about this ­subject that suddenly becomes very important to you. So, what happened during those moments? You realized you have a deep affinity with something and you have no reasonable explanation as to why you have this connection. I have had many moments of inspiration through connecting to my inner muse.

I never planned on being an artist. In fact, it was the farthest thing from my mind. In many cases artistic sensibilities carry over in families. You’ve heard of generations of musicians, actors, and artists that handed down creativity. That wasn’t the case for me. When I enrolled in college, not one person in my immediate family had any artistic knowledge, or for that matter any visible artistic abilities. I didn’t have the slightest thought that I had any artistic gift or inclination toward artistic pursuit.

So how did I become an artist? I can trace the path back to two single events that had huge influences on me at that time.

MY STORY

The first event took place in the second grade when our teacher had us make a card for the holidays. She gave everyone a toothbrush, some dark blue paper, and some white paint. We dipped the toothbrush into the white paint and made swishing white marks on that deep blue paper. She wanted us to create what appeared to be a snow-covered branch—­probably a fir tree—but what engaged me was the way the white paint made the blue paper come alive and the way the bristles made a much more interesting line than a pencil! I had unconsciously discovered contrast, tone, and line quality, yet I had no words to describe the effect. I didn’t revisit this experience until I was deep into my college years, when I realized my art career began that day in the second grade.

The next event occurred when my father bought a paint-by-number set. Each night he would take some time and lay out his materials on the dining room table. I watched him fill in the tiny little spaces with patterns of colored oil paint and saw the image begin to emerge. What struck me wasn’t the image per se, but the scent of the paint itself and the beauty of the color. At that moment, oil paint became an indelible part of my DNA, lying dormant until a few decades later when I started my first painting class.

We all have these momentary exposures, situations, events, and experiences that can trigger other positive experiences later in life. If we don’t act upon them we risk losing them forever (or at least suppressing them until something else comes along and reactivates them).

When I began taking art classes in college I certainly was not the one with any obvious special talent. There were those in my classes who, in my estimation, were incredibly skilled, well beyond what I understood. I was the quiet one who had no idea where to begin. I had my desire and nothing else to propel me forward.

As a side note, I never took an art class in high school, because in junior high an art teacher disliked my way of drawing. I would look around the room at the other student drawings and thought mine were pretty good, yet he consistently gave me Cs.

Fortunately, I had a strong inner feeling that he was wrong and that I shouldn’t listen to him. Following this thought, I continued to draw on my own. But I didn’t take any art classes until college, not wanting to be misjudged.

My advice? Be courageous when your inner feelings are directing you. You never know what might be revealed to you.

In fact, I started college thinking that I would become a scientist or something associated with math, so I filled my first semester with all academic classes. I didn’t have a major, but my girlfriend at the time said, You’re really good at art. This had not even occurred to me. I had created a little cartoon character that amused my friends and me, so I assumed that was what she was referring to. After she told me that, I realized it felt right. When my academic advisor asked what I was interested in, the previous evening’s conversation came to mind and out popped art. He asked, Well, why aren’t you taking any art courses? So we revamped my schedule to include two classes.

I made little progress in that first year of art school, until one day in a life-drawing class I made a huge breakthrough. I actually understood how a shadow was drawn on a two-­dimensional surface. It amazed me how that shadow made the robe on the model jump off the page to create this astonishing three-­dimensional illusion.

In that moment, desire met technical and visual awareness for the very first time. What’s the connection here? Paying attention to your inner reactions, feelings, and insights can lift you into higher and higher realms of creativity. That same excitement I had ­experienced with oil paint when I was young repeated itself in this drawing experience. That same Aha! moment occurred again, except on an entirely different level, one that I was completely aware of. But the feeling was exactly the same. The combination of seeing a possibility and feeling its accompanying excitement became a benchmark for my entire artistic career.

CONNECTING

Now, at this moment, realize that there is something creative in you that you don’t know exists. For the time being, all you need to do is admit there is something there. Believe me; it’s a big step. Moving forward, immersing yourself in the world of creativity, takes confidence. I can’t prove it to you, and you can’t either. You have to trust—even if there is a tape (or in this age an MPEG file) playing in your mind that says, I can’t do this; I’m not the least bit creative, or the old cliché, I can’t draw a straight line. Well, who wants to draw a straight line anyway? That’s what rulers are for.

DO YOU RESPOND FROM HABITS AND CONCEPTS THAT YOU WERE TAUGHT OR TOLD WERE RIGHT?

I’m asking you to begin this process by acting on ­something rather than avoiding or denying it. By denying something you are essentially closing the door on it, saying to yourself, "I can’t."

Try this instead: "I can."

Seems simplistic, doesn’t it? But apply this strategy and you will find it’s not as easy as you think. Habits are hard to change. Thinking is a habit too, and if we want to change that habit we must first become aware of it.

Somewhere in your life you heard someone say you couldn’t possibly do that, whatever that might have been. You unconsciously accepted that thought or directive, and it became the main operative in your life. That tape kept playing on and on and on and it became the truth for you. You didn’t even know it was being embedded in your unconscious. The mind is a powerful force; you should never underestimate its power. It can take you to the greatest heights and the lowest depths.

Here’s an exchange that occurred when I was giving a talk about my work to a group of art students many years ago. One student in particular came up to me and asked, Where do your ideas come from? My reply was, They just come. With this statement I was referring to my natural intuition. Ideas have come to me spontaneously throughout my entire life.

Her response: I have a difficult time with that.

My response: That clearly bothers you. Why?

Her answer: I don’t know; it just does.

In my mind this showed me she had some sort of tape repeating within her that told her there was a rule about where art springs from, and my process, predominantly involving my intuition, violated that rule. She must have walked away from that talk quite frustrated, especially if she did not use her own intuition.

We are not born with these negative views of ourselves. They are inherited from our surroundings; they are conditioned responses implanted long ago that we have adopted. The creative spirit in the Western world has been repressed by an educational system that in recent years has devalued art, music, dance, poetry, and theater and has emphasized instead the acquisition of riches through careers that many creative people find unappealing.

But creativity is food for the soul and the soul needs food as much as the body does. When schools don’t encourage students to explore creativity, it is no wonder that you often hear the term rebel in the context of young creative people who buck against the educational system. Often left to their own devices, some reach out independently, without any guidance. The lucky ones find themselves on successful ground for following their inner wisdom—not an easy task and a very singular experience.

I have nothing against other careers and options, but you have this book in your hand because you’re interested in ­creativity. That’s what we are talking about here. Ultimately, it’s about finding your inner muse rather than accepting discouraging words someone may have spoken. I’m sure all of you know someone, if not yourself, who has been told, You will never make a career of art, or You’ll be a starving artist your entire life. This tired colloquialism should be put to rest permanently. We should challenge these clichés whenever they are spoken, especially to ourselves, because they are a root problem and will not disappear on their own.

I was once in a meeting where a colleague actually said in reference to art courses, Well it’s not rocket science, is it? In that one sentence I understood what his stance on art was, and it was sad to hear. Even in our hallowed educational institutions these attitudes still prevail. The uphill battle to increase creative momentum is a struggle we can all address in our daily lives. The stereotypical perception that art is easy, simple-minded, unimportant, or worthless should be eliminated from our personal vernacular.

We must become aware of these bad habits as they surface and replace them with positive, uplifting ones. Watch yourself whenever you experience a thought that is negative in any way regarding creativity. Monitor what your mind tells you and consciously replace that thought with a positive one.

Here’s an example: I can’t possibly make a piece of art that has no reference to an object, place, or person. Replace that thought with, I can make anything my heart and mind think up without prejudice or judgments. This does not mean that you lose your critical eye in the process. Self-reflection and criticism of your own art are valuable tools in developing and improving your work. I talk about these topics in later chapters.

AWARENESS

Let me return to my first years in art school. I realized that art encompassed so much of what I was interested in: literature, music, philosophy, dance, poetry, psychology, spirituality, and even film. I wasn’t aware of this at first, but it became apparent after successive courses in other fields (even geology, which became for me a sculptural reference). I began to see connective tissue between all the subjects I was studying. This stimulated new ideas for me and opened doors that I had previously closed. Creativity comes from everywhere and at any time; you have to remain open to the possibilities.

BE OPEN

There are, in my estimation, unlimited avenues of expression. Being closed-minded about your own work restricts your personal growth and development, while being open-minded affords vast opportunities. There may be an abstractionist inside of you that brings a new luster to the world of painting, but you haven’t even given it a chance if you shut the doors of abstraction. You have no idea what kind of artist you are until you explore all the possibilities.

Finding your voice is the key to your creativity. I am not talking about finding a style because that can become a noose for creativity, too. I have witnessed many artists getting stuck in a style who end up bored and repetitive, trapped in their own concoctions. We will have more opportunities later on in the book to try some participatory experiments that engage different sides of art making.

Admitting that there is art inside of you, waiting to emerge, is the first step. Everyone has some sort of idea, but extracting it is the trick. Right now, imagine that you are a blank canvas, ready to explore the magnificent jewels that are hidden from view inside you. Listen to that inner voice that invites you to look and listen and play.

Play. Yes, play. If you look at art or any creative endeavor as hard work, you would be right. Yet playing is the key element in bringing forth that creativity.

Some artists do use pain to fuel their work, but the process itself should be stimulating and rewarding. Many artists will tell you that the process is the most important part of the work. Art that has struggle and tension in it is good. Art that works against itself is not art; it’s frustration. Solving problematic issues in your art is not the same as forcing your work into areas that are overly intellectual, contrived, or without heart.

Right now, we just want to open some windows and let ideas flow into our minds. Easy, right? It is easy when it works, but be cautious of those thoughts that sabotage your progress. Remember the I can’ts? Watch your mind for those thoughts that inhibit expansion. Get ready for the fresh and clean thoughts that will slide in and take their place. Once you have a strong body of work established, you will have a base from which to expand. This will give you the confidence and the freedom to explore new artistic territories.

WRITE IT DOWN

We will be adopting a technique for recording and using ideas once they start flowing. I keep notebooks, journals, and sketchbooks around my house so I may have access at all times to them when ideas erupt. I also use my iPhone and iPod for collecting ideas. Many nights, after I have gone to bed, ideas flood my mind and it is inconvenient to turn on the light, get up, and find something to write in. So I began keeping a journal right next to my bed. Ideas are so fleeting. If you don’t put them down, they dissipate, never to return.

I also carry a small spiral notebook in my back pocket for quick thoughts. Even a simple notation is enough to bring you back to the full-blown concept you have conjured up. Retain the idea and don’t let it get away. I’ll talk more about ways to journal later on in chapter 11.

IDEAS ARE TREASURES

Ideas are like seeds. Some grow and some don’t. Some become hearty, powerful trees and some barely survive or don’t survive at all. Treat ideas like treasures, because you never know which ones are the trees and which ones are the compost.

In my own experience, when I have an idea that seems good, I write it down. Then I contemplate it for a period. In time, I realize that some ideas are worth acting upon and some are not. The great ideas keep bubbling up and pestering me. They won’t let me separate from them; they constantly reappear in my inner vision and tell me I should enact them. I have ideas written down that are decades old, but still merit consideration. If I hadn’t written them down, they would be lost. You will find that some ideas are not ready to