At Loose Ends
Inspiration in Not Doing
I just finished a painting commission which took a very long time to complete, interrupted as it was by my serious injury and confinement in a neck brace. As a consequence, I could not paint or do any physical work or even drive, so the commission had to wait. Luckily, the customer is an old friend who is patient and understanding and was not put off by the three-month delay nearly as much as I was. The thing that kept my spirits up was a solo painting exhibition scheduled many months before. While I had to give up my plans to create a lot of new work for it, I could certainly pull together what I had already done and contribute paintings from my stock to create a new show from those.
That exhibition has now closed. I am now in that wonderful creative space where I don’t have any pressing deadlines, haven’t yet decided what to work on next, and the world feels open and pregnant with possibility. Shall I paint a series of summer garden florals from life, or maybe a large-scale abstracted forest? Or, I could get out early and paint landscapes in the cool morning light and finish them later in the studio when it gets hot. It is a rare moment and I feel no pressure to fill it up. I can do pretty much whatever I want. Doing nothing for awhile is a good, sensible start.
At moments like this, I often look for inspiration in a break from my everyday life, say, a trip away from home. It doesn’t matter where, as long as it is a complete change of environment which offers something restful and diverting to occupy the conscious mind, leaving the subconscious to work in the background. Even a multi-day trip in the car can serve as the stimulus for the creative mind to open up and deliver all kinds of ideas. I love the experience of driving a long distance to emerge into a new reality, maybe a National Park. It does wonders in its power to tap into the subconscious. I think that the subconscious is limitless in its ability to deliver to me the important stuff that has been rolling around in the back of my mind throughout my entire life. And so often, just when I have felt completely at loose ends and have not had anything going on, big opportunities have arrived on the airwaves while I was occupied on a journey. I can’t explain it, sometimes it just happens.
I think it’s time for another road trip.