Finding Your Inspiration.

"I need inspiration, Mommy," says my daughter.

"Inspiration for what? … What do you need help with," I usually reply.

"I want to draw, but I don't know what. I just need inspiration!"

This conversation usually happens every other day, or every day. Depending on how she's feeling. She loves arts and crafts, and so many different other things that I am often surprised when she asks me about inspiration.

Inspiration actually has so many different definitions. It comes from the root "to inspire," which according to Dictionary.com, has seven different variations in English today. "An inspiring or animating action or influence;" "a thing or person that inspires;" "something inspired, as an idea;" "a result of inspired activity;" there's also the theological definitions, "a divine influence directly and immediately exerted upon the mind or soul; "the divine quality of the writings or words of a person so influenced;" "the drawing of air into the lungs, inhalation;" "the act of inspiring; quality or state of being inspired."

Yet, as I'm writing this, I have trouble with inspiration myself. Henri Matisse, a great French visual painter, said, "Don't wait for inspiration. It comes while working." He did many different things in his life, but he became known mainly for his paintings. One of my favorite painters, Vincent Van Gogh, said "Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." Take a look at some of his paintings with me:

Could any of these paintings be completed in an hour? I highly doubt it. He watched the world around him, and painted what he saw. While he was alive, nobody bought his paintings, and he was often laughed at. One of his most famous and celebrated paintings today, Starry Night (seen below), was painted when he was at a psychiatric hospital. One stroke at a time, one color at a time, he put things together. Things don't happen usually overnight, or even in a day. Think about things that are important to you for inspiration. I'm reminded of part of the definition I looked at earlier: 'exerted upon the mind or soul.' Things make an imprint on you, whether positive or negative. All of them have an impact on you, and become part of your lived experiences. One of the reasons I love Starry Night is that when I look at it, I get a sense of peace; I feel that "ahh" exhale of breath when you get to finally relax after a long day and sit down. It's just relaxing to look at.

Why stop at the painting realm? There are so many different realms of art. Literature, music, crafting... whatever you create. It is amazing what the human mind can create when they put their mind to it. So that's the trick, isn't it? "Putting your mind to it." You have to believe in yourself to create something, whether it's just for fun, to make money, or to try something new. "The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt," said Sylvia Plath. For anyone not familiar with her, she was an American short story writer, poet, and novelist in the early 1900's. She is known for a lot of dark themes in her writings, and she was known as manic-depressive before taking her own life in 1963. For Plath and Van Gogh, they both had mental struggles that inspired them in their own ways to create and make things. They may have doubted themselves, but that didn't stop them from creating. Between sketches and paintings and drawings, Van Gogh was so prolific that he averaged one art piece every 36 hours, over 900 pieces in his lifetime.

So...where will the road take you? If you have an idea of where you want to go with your creativity, just go! Let everything come to you. Think about where you want your project to end. Think about your moods, experiences, or people you love. Be you! If nothing else, above all else, be you. Albert Einstein said, "creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought." Only you know what is in your mind, seeing the world with your own unique experiences. Whatever you do, don't forget to have fun while you're doing it! Inspire yourself to be a better you, and don't give up on yourself.

My Inspirations (Works Cited/Referenced)

Barnhart, Ben. “22 Insightful Creativity Quotes.” Vectornator Blog, Vectornator Blog, 19 July 2022, https://www.vectornator.io/blog/creativity-quotes/.

“Inspiration Definition & Meaning.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/inspiration.

Rodin, Auguste, and Cast by Alexis Rudier French. “Auguste Rodin: The Thinker.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/191811.

“10 Things You Might Not Know about Vincent Van Gogh - Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, https://artsandculture.google.com/story/10-things-you-might-not-know- about-vincent-van-gogh/agLStrYjblBRKA.

Tim. “Top 10 Van Gogh Paintings: ImpressionistArts.” ImpressionistArts.com, Tim, 17 Mar. 2023, https://impressionistarts.com/top-10- vincent-van-gogh-paintings.