Of Inspiration and Frustration - The Artists Fight With Highs and Lows

I am often asked where I get my inspiration from. I think for most artists its a hard question to answer. I know for me, I see inspiration in everything. Sometimes this includes some pretty surprising places. But it all adds up to ideas, and cosmic beauty that the artist see’s and then tries to mold into something he can show others.I understand that it is a question asked in order for the viewer to understand my work better and I try to answer it gracefully and honestly.

The question I never get asked though is what destroys my inspiration and stops it from flowing. No one wants to hear about what frustrates an artist, what removes his/her ability to create. But truly it is more common that we face frustrations daily that cause us to mentally and spiritually black out for a time. I think its important to know not only what inspires an artist but what takes away from that inspiration, because there lies between the two, that amazing place where artist can cross the barriers of time and space and touch the universe for a moment in their work.

I can say truly that I use my art as my drug of preference. Depression and mania has always been a part of my makeup. My mother was a nut of the highest degree, my father not too far off that mark either. I loved and cared about them both though and tried to learn something about avoiding the pitfalls that I saw them suffer from.

I've made a study for many years of watching others who suffer from depression and other clinically psychological problems and I've seen for sure that creativity helps overcome many ailments of the mind. If I just force myself into my creative mode (no matter how hard it might be to do so), within an hour or so I can usually work myself back to a level balance and rediscover that inspiration needed to create good art. For years I've been able to keep myself fine tuned this way.

So again, I say its important to know an artists story of both inspiration and loss in order to really grasp their work in a deeper way. I’m not suggesting that you go around asking every artist you meet “why they are frustrated and lacking inspiration”. That will get you answers you probably would rather not know! But if you want to understand the deeper meaning behind a truly great artist, take the time to learn their history and you may find some pretty amazing stories behind their creations.