            
Reflections on
the Creative Process
| Inspiration is a mystery. We feel we know what's evoked it in the past.
We try to maintain that state of synergy to be open to the
art-producing aspects of ourselves. It's a delicate balance, though. A
major illness, a huge disappointment, the loss of a loved one can shake the porous equilibrium we cultivate for our art.
Sometimes we sink. We have to re-evaluate, re-find our way back to a
new and integrated way of being a vehicle for the flow of creative
forces. Simply putting in the hours goes a long way.
That discipline is important. But so is an openness to what is, the
reality of our lives, to allowing ourselves to be vague and formless as
new reflections on the world begin shaping in us, in writing, or paint,
or musical notation. Discipline, yes, but not to forget always to risk. |
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I have to be faded out, formless to write;
dissolved to paint; nearly non-existent
to create.
It's always a risk.
But an aesthetic operates. The aesthetic, way of shaping, what
negotiates the creative forces and the tools, the diverse & complex
language structures, the brush of paint by a sable brush on canvas, how
far the back will bend in the speed of the movement, offers structure
to the emerging poem or painting or dance.
It's like trying to hold a sail in a high-force wind.
Sometimes we just can't make it.
Sometimes we do. |
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