Easy question difficult answer because I found out that it is different for everybody, but I'll tell you my way if you tell me yours. Inspiration, it sounds so easy and looking back at something you created and that you feel happy about it is "so easy" but the road before you get their is very fickle and seldom feels easy. In this proces I am my own worst enemy. Let me take you back and tell you a story.
I had the best idea ever, inspiration struck when I visited Iceland during my last holiday and one of the things I noticed was how very few people live in Iceland. There are vast areas without houses or without a use for that matter. Coming from The Netherlands that is weird. If you've ever flown over The Netherlands you probably notices that everything is partitioned and every square inch of the country is in use. A common frase here is the country is full. It has been a sentence politics have used since I was little and it is a ridiculous statement because if you compare our country to for example Hong Kong or New York then we are not "full". This train of thought gave me an idea, inspiration if you will. A series of paintings consisting of all different colour dots to show that although a painting seems full there is always room for more. Cool idea right? Well.. you be the judge
Not sure what you might think because I did not ask anybody what they thought of these paintings. To say I did not like them is an understatement, so this is what I mean with being your own worst enemy.. maybe you love them and want to hang there in your house. If so I have to disappoint you because they don't exist anymore. There was even a third but I've never taken a picture of it so I can't show you that one.
What to do with painting you don't like. Ideas you tried but that never worked out. Well I've got a huge stack of them and I use them for practice. Trying some new technique or idea, at least if that does not work out the stack will not get bigger.
So that is what I did. I saw a really cool pouring technique that I wanted to try and these were on top of the pile so I used them. Can't show you that result. Again, no pictures but safe to say again that did not go as I planned it. The dots got in the way of the paint, should have know that but not thinking things through and just start is what I excel in. So the technique failed but the end result was kinda cool. I loved the colors so I went with it and added more and worked with the dots until I got something that I really loved.
So what is my inspiration it can be a frase, a song, a sentence in a conversation. Something that sticks in my head and forms an image or a feeling. If it sticks with me I do something with it. I don't write down all my ideas or all these things that stick in my head because that would be a lot and a lot is not that special but if it sticks with me I know at least it is special to me.
With that image or feeling I start, I usually thought of something that I try to recreate and most of the time it does not work but sometimes it does immediately. That are the rare moments I really feel like an artist. Most of the times I create something and it is not what I had in mind and I put it away. I look at it again later and sometimes I get another idea and work with that. Try, try and try again until you love it.
How do you know if others will love it, well there is no other way then putting yourself out there. Share your stuff, ask feedback and don't feel bad if people don't like it. It is feedback that will help you to find yourself and sometimes it is spot on and other times you can't agree and you have to carry on.
So what is your process?
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