No Limits to Inspiration

What inspires you? For me, there are so many things in my life that inspire me. A few would be when I can see the thunderclouds and smell the rain but the sky above me is still clear, when my sisters and I laugh until we run out of breath, and when my favorite song comes on during the last few minutes of my drive home and I can blare it at max volume. There is so much that I want to do, so much that I want to give to the world. My writing and my art let me do that. Colors and word let me explain what I feel like as I'm watching those thunderclouds roll in or how I go all softy smiles when my nine year old brother gives me an unexpected hug. Art isn't always seen as something that is very valid or important but it lets us communicate those moments of inspiration to one another. Without them, how could we explain such wonders? Anyone can add art to their life: maybe your art is the magenta tie you add to your conservative outfit or the garden you are growing outside or the sharpie doodles you always do on your hands. Art is the outward expression of inward genius and the best part about it...there are no limits to the ways you can use it.

Eyes Open

Stop.

Right now, stop. Wherever you are, stop. Look out the window and stop. Do you see it? What do you see? Do you see what I see? Do you hear what I hear? Maybe you see something new. Did you notice it? Notice when you saw the world in a totally new way?

Before color goes on canvas, before a camera shutter opens, before clay is slapped onto a wheel, the very first ingredient is sight! You must SEE to CREATE! Look, look, LOOK! Inhale the world you live in. Suck it in through a straw, a vaccuum hose, anyway you can. Get it inside you, fill yourself up, even to your fingertips.

Have you ever looked at sunlight? A perfect, soothing gold color. Noticed the way it glints off leaves, illuminates the green from behind. Or how it can pull the red from a brunette's hair? Ever listened to the different voices the wind has? Does it scream today or simply whimper? Is it being playful, kissing at your hair, ruffling the edges of your papers?

This world is too big for us to ever be full. Look, look, look, and then, look beyond. How did the sunlight get its perfect gold? Where does the wind go to sleep? There is beauty here. There is complexity. There is life. There is design. Look, look, look, and then look for the Designer.

Dreams = Loneliness

How can you sit in a room full of people and still feel alone?

How can you talk to everyone you know and still feel that they haven't heard you?

How come you can display the masterpieces in your brain and no one see it?

In some ways, to dream is to be alone. Because no one else can ever know your dream like you do. But the dreamer is still content, because he has his dreams. We try over and over and over to explain our dreams. The best days are when someone catches a glint of our dream in their eye.

Flight

The horizon just keeps opening up. Never ending.

Sometimes I just feel limitless. It hurts to be stretched out so far. There are so few certainties. Can you be terrified and giddy with pleasure about the same thing at the same time? It is proving hard to break free of my cacoon. My wings are still limp yet. Can you see me soar? Watch how high I go. Can you see?

I have visions, whispers, colors in my head. Can you see? I can. Let me show you...

Definitions

Life: an agonizing mix of ecstasy and anguish.

Art: the result of life focused and funneled through an artist's hands.

Sometimes...

Sometimes, I want to live my whole life on a creative/emotional high point. Despite how chaotic my brain can be during these periods, I love them! I feel so alive. Everything holds a drop of inspiration. The possibility of poetry is everywhere. But if I only ever stay on a high, they'll become average to me. I have to starve a little to understand the feast of creative thought.

I have to be afraid before I realize the comfort of my Hero's arms.

Art: Good, Bad & Ugly

Art is about passion. Therefore, artists are passionate. There are so many different stereotypes of artists. One idea I've gotten a lot from my family and friends is how easy they think it is for me to create. They see my finished work and can't believe it. But I don't show them the hours of thought and struggle to get just the right lines or words out onto the paper.

To the outside world, we artists create because we love it. But we know better. We do love it but in some ways, we have to love it. When the inspiration comes, I don't really write/ draw because I want to. I do it because if I don't, the ideas will drive me literally crazy. To be an artist is to have voices in your head and if you don't get them out, they'll kill you.

And along with all that passion comes a lot of emotional ups and downs. Art is about highs and lows so guess what an artist's life gets to be like? I've noticed that the more creative I get, the more trigger happy my emotions are. I experience everything to the extreme and those extremes fuel my work. I'll admit, its hard. Lots of times, it is a total pain. It distrupts my life, school, my relationships. It makes everything just a bit harder.

But it is worth it. If I have to live the rest of my life with these crazy unpredictable extremes, I'll take them to have the creativity. The voices drive me insane but without them, I wouldn't be me. So I'll take it all: good, bad, and ugly.