I read a post yesterday called Creative Quirks by Richard Bist and I was inspired to think more deeply about my creative quirks. Firstly what are quirks? They are often unique habits or personality traits that are memorable to a person and others associate those habits with that particular person.

---

Here are some of my creative quirks.

I like a clear table when I start a new art work or creation.

If I am coming back to something I have already started I don’t mind how much mess there is pertaining to the work, and I am happy to add to the chaos. I only tidy up when the art or creation is finished; but I have an art studio – a space that is wholly mine, so no-one minds my contained guddle.

I drink tea, only tea: I don’t like coffee or alcohol while I create. Tea is not distracting like coffee and not befuddling like alcohol; tea is comforting and fresh; and it’s a ritual I have partaken in since I was a child. It brings me home.  

I like working in silence, I am happy with a cat sitting in my presence or a family member, so long as they don’t expect me to converse coherently. I lose my words when I am in the flow of art. That’s why cats are the best. Dogs are too needy as a creative companion.

I talk to myself when I am brewing the next step. And of course I have another cup of tea and another and another….

Sometimes I take a walk if I need a breakthrough or come up with a new idea. And when I do something really exciting I have to move about and dance. It doesn’t matter if the music is not playing. I have music in my head and in my body. I am compelled to take up a lot of space; normally in spinning circles to express my joy in the moment.

I am told I sigh a lot but I also know I hold my breath when doing something that takes a lot of concentration. I have had art mentors telling me to breathe.

I think that is it. Oh … I also sing to myself.

Inspiration

Now I want to tell you about how I receive my inspiration. I don’t want to say ‘find my inspiration’ because often I am not purposely looking for it. I think it is more accurate to say the inspiration finds me. It probably even asks me ‘are you willing to run with it, does it speak to you?’ If I respond with an enthusiastic ‘Yes, I am all in,’ then the creative juices start to flow. If my answer is a halfhearted ‘meh’ or ‘eh’ the inspiration fizzles out quickly.  

These little flickers of inspiration often come at the most inconvenient times: A dream I awake from, a thought while travelling, or showering; while walking, or gardening or cooking.  It just shows up uninvited: a happy guest arriving at an inopportune time. Why is it inopportune? Because I don’t have a third hand to write down the ideas or I am sleeping and want to stay asleep … you get the picture. And that’s why if I respond with ‘eh, I will write it down later when I am finished’ that halfhearted response lets the inspiration slip away feeling unwelcome. Yet if I drop what I was doing and make an effort to pay attention, the inspiration blooms into something big. It feels the enthusiasm and like a happy guest stays a while longer and gives its best.

In practice one doesn’t have to go off at a tangent and forget about the cooking or where one is driving but a small note book to jot down the salient words that will jog ones memory is very helpful even in the garden or on walks. I just don’t advise writing while driving.

I have been known to set my poems to melodies while I am on a run or walk so that I will remember it when I get home. I guess you could do that while driving if you have the talent for making up songs. It doesn’t have to be polished for anyone else to hear.

Like receiving inspiration in a dream it can also come in my times of meditation or contemplation. It seems to come whenever I allow my brain to be in the alpha wave state.

When the inspiration comes it is like when the ancient mathematician, Archimedes, exclaimed eureka in the bath after he got the answer to his puzzle he was trying to solve; that aha moment is the same type of feeling when inspiration pops into my thoughts.

After the ‘aha’ moment of inspiration – comes the percolation period – this is the brewing or brooding of the idea. It might be the time for considering all the questions: the how, when, what and why of materials and supplies. It is when the planning happens. The excitement of creativity is not yet over…

Next when the time of executing the plans comes, be ready for surprises. I don’t know about your muse but my muse loves to play tricks on me – and if I let her – the most amazing things appear; way better than what I had planned originally. Some people refer to this time in the creative stage concretization but that doesn’t sounds right to me – it sounds way too immutable or set in stone. To me nothing is final.

Have you thought about your creative process: your creative quirks or how you gain inspiration? Feel free to write about it in the comment section.

Take care and enjoy creating.
~Morag Noffke~