How does an artist regain their eye, or their inspiration? I believe life gets too busy to concentrate on the small details that lend themselves to art and creativity. I have always been the one that would stop and get excited about a sunset or the way light shines through the trees on certain times of the day, I couldn't understand how others either didn't see the amazing image I was seeing or maybe I was exaggerating the beauty of what I was seeing. I believe that is what separates the artist or creative person from others, its the excitement and celebration of images or words that others find mundane yet we see them in a new exciting way.
On of the worst things I have ever done to my sense of creativity is selling a photograph for a commercial purpose-suddenly I questioned the image that was in my view finder instead of relying on the natural instinct-I asked myself how could I sell this and suddenly that intangible image that I could find from normal mundane things became clumsy. I was looking for the sale, where would I sell it, how could I market it? This form of censoring my inner artist killed my inspiration and I could not see the way I normally saw as an artist. You can not question the inspiration, you must go with it, if I write and think of what to rhyme I am doomed, I can only write what flows through and the moment I censor or question I have lost the separation from the logical side of seeing things and the creative instinct that connects things that can not be compared and find the amazing beauty out of the most mundane. If an artist tries to be creative or stand out-it always appears contrived.
So how does an artist find his eyes when he has bastardized his gift that he was given for the sake of making money. It is going back to the simplicity of seeing through a child's eye instead of an adult that judges and prepares what he or she sees to be something of worth. I remember being in a cemetery and noticing light on a grave with new flowers-instead of just shooting it, my logical thought was morbid or where could it sell and a great opportunity was lost because instead of reacting to my artist eye, the logical side questioned the purpose of the image.
I was sitting on a kayak in the middle of Lake Texoma when it occurred to me-I asked myself why am I not able to sit and take in the image like I used to. The question although not clearly answered, was simply stop and see, instead of always doing something or working toward something, stopping and just enjoying the movement of the water or the way the light danced on the water was the key that I had been missing. We move so fast and work so hard, it gets to the point that we forget the simple things that we had once enjoyed as children and that simplicity and seeing as a child is what I believe separates the laymen from the artist, the reader from the writer.
So my suggestion-stop, do silly things, simple things that you would normally ignore in your busy schedule. Find importance in the simple and excitement in the mundane-the child inside still exists, they just need to be taken more seriously sometimes.
