When inspiration leaves the piece
I have started a couple pieces with the best intentions at heart. I could see what I wanted to do in my mind, the excitement was so big that it took over every minute of my being. My stories were good, my inspirations strong, and everything was in place. But halfway through it lost it all.
It’s like the ground beneath my feet is giving away and I fell into this deep confusion and loss. At that point, no color made sense, no textures work, and no technique could solve a problem that was looming in front of me. I never thought that the basic soul of my painting would escape me. How did it happen. And I could do nothing but walk away.
After a couple such instances, I looked back and started thinking about what could have gone wrong if my foundation was so strong. It came down to these few things: the idea was forced. It didn’t come naturally. I tried putting two things together that didn’t belong or were too different to put together. OR (or AND) maybe I didn’t have as clear of an image as I thought. Sometimes I got carried away with what the end result would make me feel rather than how I would get the painting to that point. There was also the possibility that the technique was so exciting to try out that may be I didn’t think if it was the right way to tell the story. Or may be my mind had walked away from the magic of that story at that moment. You know, like when you are reading a book and you turn the page, it’s still the same book but a moment has traveled ahead to a new one.
And then there was this question of whether I believed as strongly in my story as I did now. The answer was definitely not a strong no but a pretty medium sized maybe.
Whatever the reason, the problem was real and wasn’t something I wanted to leave unchecked. So here is my new checklist to make sure that my precious sparks find their flame and spread the warmth as intended (wow that came out poetic!):
To not wait too long between inspiration and creation. Make art while the magic shines.
Make a rough sketch with intended techniques. That way the crazy, blind, senseless excitement is taken care of and I can use the new experiment to tell the story and not experiment on top of an experiment.
Draw out everything that is in my mind. Keep scribbling and making thumbnail sketches. Hopefully this becomes my bank of inspiration that I can revisit to see how else my inspiration can take shape.
Keep experimenting on the side, so by the time I have an idea, I have a whole set of new techniques already mastered to work with.
The same goes for stories. Thumbnails are one way, but may be if I can write a paragraph for the inspiration, I could look at it another way if I need to. Almost like preparing that next page in the book before hand.
THE BEST SOLUTION: Tell someone else’s story!! :D
But the whole point of this is to make sure that the soul of the story is always the strongest part of the piece. A lot of colors and techniques look magical when thrown together, now imagine all that with the life force of a good, strong thought. The more personal, the better. I feel that art lives forever and stirs something in you every time you see it.
