The Importance of Setting in Inspiring Creative Energy

Opinion

Living in a culture obsessed with measuring talent and expecting fast paced production, it fuels an artist's desire to produce work and showcase their talent. Ultimately immense self-pressure to conform to those expectations can lead to an artist's slump or a lack in clarity of stylistic choices, subject of the painting and artistic vision. People are too quick to measure an artist's ability by the number of works produced that we often overlook the importance of inspiration. Inspiration has typically been thought of as an elusive and fateful experience an individual is surprised with, especially for uninspired artists who maintain their attitude of 'waiting for inspiration' or 'asking for inspiration'. Applying psychology to understand people's innate creative tendencies and ability to change the sense of plateau, I hope it helps artists to find their inspiration and creative energy again through one simple step.

Recent psychological studies have shown that inspiration can be self-induced, captured and actualised. Notably psychological studies by Thrash and Elliott have shown that inspiration can be self-induced and manipulated by our surroundings. First, inspiration is evoked without intention and transcends our self-criticism and limitations. As Thrash and Elliot noted, “The heights of human motivation spring from the beauty and goodness that precede us and awaken us to better possibilities.” This moment of clarity is often vivid, and can take the form of a grand vision, or shift in perspective on a familiar view. This is perhaps the reason why staycations are becoming increasingly more trendy, a change in setting no matter how minor it is allows us to refresh our relationship with our home country.