Sunday, 9 January 2011
Seeking Inspiration: Visualise
Dearest Devotees,
Last semester in my Modern Drama Literature class, we spent some time talking about the importance of the scene and setting and how in some plays, the scene is so important that it can even be thought of as a separate character. Outside of art, everyone knows how important atmosphere can be to our mental, emotional and physical states. This is why some people take walks by lakes and sit in candle lit rooms with aromatherapeutic oils when they are feeling stressed. I find that when I'm feeling creatively blocked atmosphere matters a lot. To overcome my creative blocks I usually:
- Make sure I'm working in a clean, airy, well-lit (preferrably sun-lit) room.
- Make sure that all technological distractions are set to a minimum- that means no facebook, twitter or tweetdeck, and that my phone must be on silent or vibrate. To prevent my computer notifications from distracting me I use programs like Concentrate and Ommwriter to turn all my notifications off as soon as I start working until I'm done.
- Surround myself with inspiring quotes, pictures and works of art.
- Have calming music and sounds playing in the background, such as Ommwriter's nature soundtrack, and some of my favorite classical pieces like Yiruma's The River Flows in You and Maxene Cyrin's piano version of No Cars Go.
If I'm still feeling stuck after all of this, I try to get my mind moving in the direction I want to go by using the visualization technique. I believe that all art tells a story, and therefore has a plot, themes and a setting. Perfect chemistry between characters and the setting is vital to the creation of a good story. With the visualization technique, all you have to do is to imagine the setting or scene that corresponds to your work and mentally place yourself in that setting. It could either be a literal place such as a clearing in a forest, or a figurative place such as a world in which you are the best version of you. After imagining yourself in this place, feel free to explore it and allow yourself to get to know the place better. Imagine the little details, and think about how your interactions with the space could influence your actions (or those of your characters). Using visualization in this way helps you to have (almost) firsthand experience of the place you are trying to portray and could lend believability to your work.
Another way of using the visualization technique is by thinking about the message you would like to get across, imagining the effect it would have on the lives of you or the desired audience and figuring out what it would take for you to get that desired effect. For example, let's say you want to get across the message of what it means to truly love yourself in a song you are writing. You've written about half the song, but you are not feeling pleased with what you've got because it feels too preachy to you. By reminding yourself of the reason you are writing and thinking about what you would need to do to get the message across to your particular audience, you would be able to understand your audience better and therefore write a song that would appeal to them.
Finally, visualization is not just a technique that can be used by artists in a creative block. You can use visualization to reach any kind of goal that you are having difficulty with, be it creative or not. People use visualization to help them reach academic, physical, spiritual and life goals all the time. Being able to imagine yourself somewhere can help you rekindle the flame, when fear and intimidation may have snuffed it out and can help you get back on track when you're feeling derailed.
***Seeking inspiration assignment***
Create a work of art (it can be any kind of art, dance, music, design, poetry anything you want) that represents the story that you think is being told in the picture below. Or visualise your favorite place in the world (it doesn't have to be real). Explore the place and create a work of art that best depicts this place.
I know this has nothing to do with anything but this little boy is just too cute. Plus laughter and smiles are great for creativity.
If you are lacking inspiration and have never heard of this search engine- Go. You're Welcome :)
I love TED talks! I recommend that you check out the talks given by Isaac Mizrahi, Elizabeth Gilbert, but really you can just choose a topic and search for the talk or look for a person that inspires you.
Okay. This video is probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Love Steven Johnson for it. The full talk is on TED too and is totally worth watching.
I love being made to think by videos like this.
Love you all and Stay inspired,
P.S. So let me know what you think. What's inspired you lately? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.
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7 comments:
cool videos from stephen johnson. thanks so much for the insight.
That is the coolest search engine ever! Thanks for sharing. The owl ring is from Forever 21. I got it last year, so I don't know if it's still there or not.
Oh my goodness, I'm like a raving fan of TED talks! I watched one a while ago about the artist of Sherman's Lagoon (the newspaper comic) and it was really interesting and engaging.
You're right, I do think that these talks stretch your mind and make you think. I think that's also why I love books so much. But TED talks are easily digestible and so entertaining!
I love your blog! :) I look forward to reading more.
Thanks for the links. I have saved them and will be going back to them later. Lately, I've been really inspired by photography and instrumentals. They inspire me to write.
This is such an inspired idea! I never would have thought of it. I definitely subscribe to the theory that you should surround yourself physically with the things that inspire you, but I never thought of picturing another setting in your mind's eye to help you focus. I will definitely give this a try next time I'm running on zero!
I love your blog and just wanted to let you know that I'm featuring you in my Stylish Blogger post tomorrow, February 3rd!
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Thank you, thank you,Thank You for deciding to leave a comment :) I just love hearing from you and interacting with you amazing people. This is why I blog. I love comments, compliments, and totally accept words of advice given in a friendly and positive manner. Negativity is not welcome here. I love all of my darling devotees and would never want to hurt you. I hope you feel the same way, too.