on the process of making art: inspiration

in the last weeks i have been pretty much watching the world in the perspective of my bed. this last edition of the flu is not fun. a deceptive illness that makes you fell miserable for a few days, then when you think everything will be okay, you are thrown in bed again. just in time for the group show "Tarts, Trollops, and Tramps" to which i had planned some cool pieces with a cool concept i had developed just for the show, but that i was just too miserable to bring to physical form. more about it later.

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but what i really wanted to talk today is about the creative process. i have been spawned some new pencil pieces lately (all in progress for now) and people have been asking about my process, materials, and so on. in fact that's a question i hear quite often. so i decided to write about it. starting with the genesis of the process. aka the inspiration.

 

"Recollection", work in progress

when i think inspiration i immediately think something that is dear to my heart and that touches me. something that is like oxygen, that fills your lungs, and makes you move.

the Free Dictionary defines:

in·spire  (n-spr)

v. in·spired, in·spir·ing, in·spires

v.tr.

1. To affect, guide, or arouse by divine influence.

2. To fill with enlivening or exalting emotion: hymns that inspire the congregation; an artist who was inspired by Impressionism.

3.

a. To stimulate to action; motivate: a sales force that was inspired by the prospect of a bonus.

b. To affect or touch: The falling leaves inspired her with sadness.

4. To draw forth; elicit or arouse: a teacher who inspired admiration and respect.

5. To be the cause or source of; bring about: an invention that inspired many imitations.

6. To draw in (air) by inhaling.

7. Archaic

a. To breathe on.

b. To breathe life into.

v.intr.

1. To stimulate energies, ideals, or reverence: a leader who inspires by example.

2. To inhale.

what makes you feel all of these things?

everybody have stories no matter whether they lived traveling the world in a boat, or in a distant farm in a country town. everybody have those things that fill them with life. or death. they say that writers should write about things they know well. i think that also applies to artists... draw your life... dance your life... sing your life. even if all you want is to raise questions. it is all a big mystery after all. but do it with passion. find your passion.

when i was a child, i spent most of my time in my inner world. the people and places i created, the dreams of other dreamers, were way more interesting that the "real" world around me. i was always more comfortable with the things i could not see with my physical eyes. religious experiences (ah, Brazil). myths, fairytales, mysteries, magic. the supernatural, and the tools to access it. religion. God and the Devil, saints and demons, spirits and devas. my inspiration, my oxygen, comes from the invisible. from the place where things are first shaped to manifest in this world (many times just to be corrupted by men.) I grew up embracing the invisible and it spilled in the stories i wrote and the art i created. 

Another progress for a commission, still untitled.

when you talk about what you love and understand (or desire to understand), you will create a bridge. you will find your interlocutors and the great dialogue called art will manifest.