"Where do you get your inspiration?" or "Wow, you are so creative! How do you come up with this?" are questions I get asked a lot of times.
Usually at gigs that are very hectic and where I don't have much time to talk to people for long. So I tent to brush it off with some non- defined answer along the line of "Oh, everywhere really" knowing that is is not a very satisfying answer at all. But it is not a question so easily answered.
Where does my inspiration and creativity come from?
Let's start with creativity as this is something I can answer easily.
I grew up in a home and surrounded by a family where there was always ample of opportunity, and sometimes necessity, to be creative and to make things and where someone was always working on some project or another.
I grew up with a do it yourself mentality which was partly based in my parents and grandparents upbringing and partly based in the need to save money. Needlework (knitting, sewing, stitching), pottery, gardening, food preservation, woodworking, and even building a house were all a normal part of my life growing up. (My parents build the house when I was 6 and we spend almost every day at the building site helping with whatever my brother and I were allowed to help with)
On top of that, my mom provided us with ever new craft materials to work with, from colouring books, paints, chalk, card making, craft foam, jewellery, beading to window colours, glass, wood and so much more. (probably mainly to keep us busy and out of trouble ;-) )
During my pre-teen years, my parents discovered Tiffany as their hobby and creative outlet. For those of you that don't know what that is- it is the art of making things out of stained glass. You can find my parent's work here https://www.facebook.com/PiontekOurTiffanyPage
So I believe my creativity and my need to create simply stems from being exposed to so many creative opportunities surrounding me when I was growing up. It makes one curious and in my case experimental in all sorts of art and eager to learn new ways to create.
As for the inspiration,
well, it really does come from everywhere and at the weirdest times.
BUT it cannot be forced! I have learned ways that help me get inspired but sometimes even that does not work. In fact, for the past three weeks, I felt utterly uninspired and creatively spent, until this morning, when I read a post on my newsfeed someone had written.
All of a sudden all the creative gates opened and my mind was flooded with new ideas. And I mean literally flooded. It is like a school of fish riding on a wave into my mind and me trying to find, catch and hold on to the best one before they disappear out of consciousness again. If I don't sketch or write the fleeting images of ideas down right away, they dissolve and are gone until triggered again another time.
It can be that one of these waves gives me a whole set of ideas, similar to each other, or it can be that there is just one idea, more defined and finished than the many fleeting snippets of images.
In any case it is as if a picture appears in front of my inner eye.
My inspiration comes from inside, what most of you really want to know is what triggers my inspirational process.
A trigger can be anything, sometimes it is a nice colour combination I see somewhere, or a pattern, a movie, a book, a quote, a sentence, a picture, an experience, nature and also political, social and ecological happenings.
Basically I try to paint a picture out of a feeling or foreboding or some other strong emotion and sometimes I just paint because I like how pretty the colours look together and I just try to find elements that work well together or follow unseen patterns that appear once I put the first element of my work down.
Some tricks I use to help me get some inspiration when I am having difficulty coming up with a new idea include
- taking a shower or taking a walk at the beach or along a river (something about running water relaxes me and makes me perceptive to new ideas and thoughts)
- using an online colour wheel ( my favourite is www.paletton.com
Usually at gigs that are very hectic and where I don't have much time to talk to people for long. So I tent to brush it off with some non- defined answer along the line of "Oh, everywhere really" knowing that is is not a very satisfying answer at all. But it is not a question so easily answered.
Where does my inspiration and creativity come from?
Let's start with creativity as this is something I can answer easily.
I grew up in a home and surrounded by a family where there was always ample of opportunity, and sometimes necessity, to be creative and to make things and where someone was always working on some project or another.
I grew up with a do it yourself mentality which was partly based in my parents and grandparents upbringing and partly based in the need to save money. Needlework (knitting, sewing, stitching), pottery, gardening, food preservation, woodworking, and even building a house were all a normal part of my life growing up. (My parents build the house when I was 6 and we spend almost every day at the building site helping with whatever my brother and I were allowed to help with)
On top of that, my mom provided us with ever new craft materials to work with, from colouring books, paints, chalk, card making, craft foam, jewellery, beading to window colours, glass, wood and so much more. (probably mainly to keep us busy and out of trouble ;-) )
During my pre-teen years, my parents discovered Tiffany as their hobby and creative outlet. For those of you that don't know what that is- it is the art of making things out of stained glass. You can find my parent's work here https://www.facebook.com/PiontekOurTiffanyPage
So I believe my creativity and my need to create simply stems from being exposed to so many creative opportunities surrounding me when I was growing up. It makes one curious and in my case experimental in all sorts of art and eager to learn new ways to create.
As for the inspiration,
well, it really does come from everywhere and at the weirdest times.
BUT it cannot be forced! I have learned ways that help me get inspired but sometimes even that does not work. In fact, for the past three weeks, I felt utterly uninspired and creatively spent, until this morning, when I read a post on my newsfeed someone had written.
All of a sudden all the creative gates opened and my mind was flooded with new ideas. And I mean literally flooded. It is like a school of fish riding on a wave into my mind and me trying to find, catch and hold on to the best one before they disappear out of consciousness again. If I don't sketch or write the fleeting images of ideas down right away, they dissolve and are gone until triggered again another time.
It can be that one of these waves gives me a whole set of ideas, similar to each other, or it can be that there is just one idea, more defined and finished than the many fleeting snippets of images.
In any case it is as if a picture appears in front of my inner eye.
My inspiration comes from inside, what most of you really want to know is what triggers my inspirational process.
A trigger can be anything, sometimes it is a nice colour combination I see somewhere, or a pattern, a movie, a book, a quote, a sentence, a picture, an experience, nature and also political, social and ecological happenings.
Basically I try to paint a picture out of a feeling or foreboding or some other strong emotion and sometimes I just paint because I like how pretty the colours look together and I just try to find elements that work well together or follow unseen patterns that appear once I put the first element of my work down.
Some tricks I use to help me get some inspiration when I am having difficulty coming up with a new idea include
- taking a shower or taking a walk at the beach or along a river (something about running water relaxes me and makes me perceptive to new ideas and thoughts)
- using an online colour wheel ( my favourite is www.paletton.com
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