This weekend I taught a private two-day workshop. I asked my student what she would like me to write about in this week's blog. Without hesitation, she said, inspiration. Where do you find it?
So, what is inspiration? Simply, it is a feeling of enthusiasm that you get from something or someone that resonates with you. The word comes from the Latin inspirare, meaning "to breathe into." But how do you turn that feeling into creativity is what I think my student was asking. Inspiration becomes creativity when joined by motivation. When what you've just read, seen, or experienced moves you to action. They don't need to be significant actions; tiny ones work well too.
A bluebird house with cardinals. When Nancy ordered the house she wanted it with the state bird and flower.
Inspiration works a bit like this, my friend Nancy commissioned me to make a birdhouse for her friend Kelly; he liked it so much it inspired him to order one for his girlfriend. Another customer wanted a house for bluebirds. I showed them a birdhouse with cardinals. They liked it but ordered one with bluebirds. That's how most of us are inspired.
When someone commissions a piece, I ask them a series of questions and like to see pictures of their home. The images allow me to see patterns and colors that the customers prefer. When Kelly came to the studio, he was clear that the theme would be birds in a garden. The house would have a feminine feel, and he would send me photographs. I made these three birdhouses.
Three bluebird houses, with different attitudes, drying and waiting to be bisque. The first very feminine, the second a bit boxy with architectural details, and the third plain but with great lines.
When the houses were ready for drawing, I started by researching images, looking at robins, bluebirds, and cardinals, for how they move, the habitats they like, and the variations in color and markings. I was looking for inspiration; my imagination ignited, I started drawing on the houses. The first house quickly filled with several flowers and fun bird images. The second one had architectural features that split the decoration area. Unable to repeat the design on the second house, I started thinking about options and asked myself some questions; birds on the ground, birds in a flowering tree, what flowers are strong enough to support birds, where do birds hang out?
These are the pictures I sent to the customer who ordered a bluebird house with bluebirds.
Detail of a bluebird sitting on a sunflower.
Sometimes it's good to sit and ponder, so I had lunch. Looking over the first house, I noticed I had done a bluebird sitting on a sunflower. And the light bulb came on. The image made me think of the local sunflower field at Dix Park and the sheer joy of everyone there. I finished the second drawing with those good feelings and invited Kelly over to make a choice.
Doing the drawings are just one part of being inspired to create; choosing glaze color is an additional process. I had the house with bluebirds glazed except for the background-color. I wanted a glaze that had all the qualities that make ceramics magic. It had to have wonderous color variations, do the melty thing, and pick up on the blue in the bluebirds. I couldn't decide, so I did my big trick for when I'm indecisive. I gave it to the universe before going to bed, with the hope that an idea would come to me in the morning during the extraordinary time between sleep and awake or the other exceptional time called showering. Mulling, asking, and image research is how I stay inspired.
The birdhouse Kelly picked with robins, cardinals, and bluebirds perch in a garden with poppies and sunflowers.
The second birdhouse I did with Kelly's theme.
A bluebird house with bluebirds before the final glaze firing.