Ideas Beyond
‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ The screen in my mind shows a desert. An uninterrupted undulating horizon of nothingness. The question of where do I get my ideas prompts the fear that I have no more ideas, and may never have any more ideas. A lot of being creative is about stretches of time having no ideas. I remember reading the autobiography of the poet Ann Sexton where she described a poem coming out fully formed, like a jelly out of a mould, trembling. It was such a good image, I could feel the satisfaction of it. I am constantly searching for that moment, the joy of the fully formed idea. Often I will sit there for the whole day trying to tantalise an idea out of myself. Inspiration has little to do with any of it. I have various things I do which I hope will generate a breakthrough: looking at books,
looking through old sketch books, reading about things, drawing out artwork for the words I have decided on – I find the act of drawing something can make an idea flow backwards from the page and into my head. I spent a lot of this week sitting on the floor with my designer Eleanor. We looked at shade cards. At the fabrics we have chosen. Sometimes just staring at the boards, not speaking, just feeling,
and waiting for the thing to happen. The last two days this week, the Hallelujah moment happened at 5pm which was an uplifting culmination to the day. I used to panic about this blank state but now I know after years of doing it, this is just the way it works.
looking through old sketch books, reading about things, drawing out artwork for the words I have decided on – I find the act of drawing something can make an idea flow backwards from the page and into my head. I spent a lot of this week sitting on the floor with my designer Eleanor. We looked at shade cards. At the fabrics we have chosen. Sometimes just staring at the boards, not speaking, just feeling,
and waiting for the thing to happen. The last two days this week, the Hallelujah moment happened at 5pm which was an uplifting culmination to the day. I used to panic about this blank state but now I know after years of doing it, this is just the way it works.
