According to creativity expert, James Taylor, the five stages of the creative process include: preparation, incubation, insight, evaluation and elaboration.
And while these stages are not linear, but iterative in nature; having a plan can be very helpful to the artist; especially, those of us who tend toward an abstract random personality type, preferring to function in highly personalized and flexible environments.
So, let's look at the first stage in Taylor's hierarchy: Preparation.
"[T]he idea that you are immersing yourself in the domain. If you are a musician you are absorbing a lot of the music that is inspiring you to create this new piece. if you're a writer you are reading other writers in this area. If you are an artist you are looking at other artists' work in the area that you are creating something in. . . ." Perhaps.
Or perhaps, it is something else.
I like to ask myself the question that I will ask you: What inspires you?
Is it looking at other artists' work or looking at the world that surrounds us? Sometimes, it can be an impression in our spirit beyond what we see, that calls for expression in the earth.
For me, it’s all of these. There is an appreciation for other artists’ work, a fascination in the complexity of the human condition in the world, and a breath-taking sense of joy found in the beauty of nature.
“To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God, which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.”
from Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson
(To be continued)
