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Oh, a rather complex question for me, Lori.  Is my source external or internal?  It’s like asking me if I’m introverted or extraverted. I read a lot of books (which is supposed to mean I am introverted) but if you stop to look at the kind of books I read–at least 80% of my reading is about people (novels, psychology, the arts) not things.  So I’m an extroverted introvert?  I seem to be both!  Some people score 80/20 or 70/30 on the introvert/extrovert dimension.  I’m like 45/55!  External input prompts my writing and so does internal energy.  It’s very mixed up for me and I think, at this point, not very relevant.  I write because I want to write and I’ll use whatever kind of inspiration (external or internal) comes to me.  But, I can think of situations where this might be a good question.  Such as, am I writing to get approval?  To get published?  To become famous?  Because one of my parents was a famous writer??  Are these questions examples of external motivation or internal motivation?  Could be both. 
Oh, lord, I think I’ll go on to the easier question.  Is the source of my inspiration divine?    I would not say so, but I can understand why artists/writers/musicians have said this.  There have been rare occasions (usually when writing poems) when I feel that I (my ego, conscious self) has not written something.  Another part of me (beyond my ego) has written it.  Because it comes out about 98% finished!  Maybe I have to give it a title, but the rest of the work was done before I picked up the pen to write!  Plop!  There is it!  A complete little story in the form of a poem.  I wish I could figure how I did it and do it more often!  (The conscious self/ego wants that control!)  Most of my writing though (fiction or non-fiction) comes in pieces.  A little bit here, a little bit there.  It needs time to grow.  Sometimes I get endings before beginnings, or middles before beginnings & endings.  Sometimes it’s like putting a puzzle together or quilting.  This dialogue goes here, etc.  Or, to use another metaphor, (used first by someone else but I can’t remember whom) and this I could believe, there’s always a river or stream of creativity going thru us–24 hrs a day, 365 days a year, (and dreams are part of this river too), but we (our conscious self) can only go swimming in this river part of the time.  Do not mourn the time we are not swimming though, for we are human and therefore need to eat/sleep, care for children, pay the mortgage, etc.  Indeed, if we didn’t do those things we wouldn’t be able to “go swimming” at all.  So celebrate–and come on in, the water’s just fine.

Cheshire

P.S.  Honest truth.  I wrote this before I saw the photo Literary Bohemian posted with her writing.  Go check it out–it’s a beautiful nature scene.

The topic this week at the Bluestocking’s Meeting is: “What are your sources of inspiration? Is it from within? Or without? Is it divine or not so?”

This topic is so timely for me. There is more synchronicity happening in my life than I know what to do with! And, it’s all thanks to the Artist’s Way, the ritual of writing morning pages, practicing Yoga, and learning to manifest my own artistic journey.

During my first college art class, the professor -a petite and enthusiastic woman with kind eyes- imparted some amazing advice to me. Our objective was to draw a still life -including shading and shadow- both of which I felt wholly inadequate to learn.

(Shading and shadow had always been hard for me. But, during the course of the class, she taught me to “see” in new ways. “Follow the line,” she’d say. “Just follow the line. Is it darker here than there? Why? Where is the light? Where is the shadow? Pay attention to the chiaroscuro,” she taught us. And, it worked. I saw objects in new ways –literally. I saw light where before I’d noticed none, I noticed the patterns it made across the Humboldt Bay at sunset while I drove to art class. I’d see the way the grays and greens would soften, as my perspective of the red- wooded mountains would increase in distance. I noticed the way a shadow appeared to ripple across the glittering fresh water lagoons of Northern California while the idyll ocean mist made its footfall on land.)

The advice my professor -herself an accomplished artist- imparted to me: “A piece of art is your own creation. You are allowed to take whatever artistic liberties with it that pleases you. The point is NOT to make the still life an exact replica of itself. The point is to create the still life the way YOU see it –the way YOU interpret it.”

Because of her words I know that Philip Sydney’s quote is true “”Fool!’ said my Muse to me, ‘look in thy heart and write’.”

Outer sources of inspiration -no matter how profound- are in every case filtered through the being of the artist and through the eyes of the beholder. It is the gift of the artist to allow the world to see life through his or her own eyes. While inspiration abounds and the muse plays her coy game of hide-and-seek, the heart and soul of the artist actively participates in the formation of inner landscapes. Do I believe that inspiration comes from within? I believe that interpretation comes from within. As for inspiration –it lives everywhere!

L.B.

Some famous creatives have made these observations about their sources of inspiration:

• Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite: ‘Fool!’ said my Muse to me, ‘look in thy heart and write.’  Philip Sidney

• When inspiration does not come, I go for a walk, go to the movie, talk to a friend, let go . . . The muse is bound to return again, especially if I turn my back!  Judy Collins
• There is a deity within us who breathes that divine fire by which we are animated. Publius Ovidius Naso

What are your source of inspiration?  Is it from within?  Or without?  Is it divine or not so?

Comment below or post to category BS 02.03.07 Creative Inspiration.