How Inspiration Appears

Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.  Picasso

How do we get inspiration, a good idea, or a “lightbulb moment” to appear?  I think partially it comes from an inner readiness to respond to the world around you.  If you are already in the mode of making art or practising a craft, your mind is primed to see possibility in something, which at another time you may not have even noticed.

Like when my family was driving back from Tofino.  Out the passenger window, I saw a hillside of fluffy second growth forest.  A plume of smoke was rising above the uniform green.  I had probably passed a similar scene many times before, however, this time, a simple stream of smoke sparked curiosity – was someone camping, what was burning, how did the person get there?  (It wasn’t fire season, otherwise I would have felt a different response).  I had a lightbulb moment and imagined a painting.  Having my sketchbook with me, I did a quick drawing which became my painting, “In the Woods”.

I think of wildlife filmmakers and photographers spending hours, days or even weeks camouflaged behind a blind for the chance to capture the rare brief moment when the right weather, lighting and animal synchronize to make a perfect picture. They’ve maybe spent months beforehand planning the logistics of these trips.  I think this is how inspiration comes.  Through a mix of the readiness to capture an image (the ability, planning and means to do it) and being in the right place at the right moment.

Patience and consistency are key to having ‘aha’ moments.  You don’t know ahead of time when you will feel inspired or what will speak to you.  You just must show up to work and always be ready.  Like a ghost-like plume of smoke rising through a sea of green, elusive and immaterial, inspiration may appear.

Images above:  In the Woods, acrylic on canvas, 16″ x 20″

Idea sketch: graphite, pen and pencil crayon, 5″ x 7″