When people find out I write or paint they’ll often ask: where do the ideas come from? Well, they come from creativity of the brain,
people, places and things around me. As
an art teacher I asked: can creativity be taught?
The writer Peter De Vries said, “I write when I’m inspired,
and I see to it that I’m inspired at 9:00 am every morning.”
We are all born with a creative brain. If you don’t believe
that, hang out with some four or five year olds. The impulse control is underdeveloped. The filters of acceptable behavior and fears
of rejection aren’t there yet in the young mind. This is why the creative genius, Picasso,
said: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we
grow up.”
So how do we redevelop our creativity?
One way is Spending time around creative
people. In the mid 1800s there was a movement that changed how the world would
forever look at and judge art. Impressionism was incubated at Café Guebois. How
did a small group of people accomplish this fete? By meeting together regularly,
they challenged and debated the idea of art. They had heated disagreements over
the “rules” of art. Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cezanne and Degas were a widely diverse
group of artists, but their creative energy paved the way for generations of
modern artists. Steve Jobs said collaboration
works best when ideas are met with brutal honesty and are forced to explore a
deeper purpose. I doubt Degas ever just patted Manet on the back and said he had pretty pictures.
Claude Monet, Red Boats in Argenteuil, 1875
Do you have a group of creative people that challenge you to
push past your first superficial idea and get to the imaginative workings of your
brain? Whatever it is- art, writing,
computer, finance, or building things- find that group of liked passions and
discuss how to make yours better.
Four years ago, I found SARA (San Antonio
Romance Authors), and my writing has greatly improved because of their questioning
and tough critique. If you want to be
creative, you can’t let fear hold you back.
