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Creative Activities vs Creative Inspiration

by Jean Van't Hul
August 11, 2015

Creative Activities versus Creative Inspiration (and Why Both are Important)

Even when we seem to have less time for creative activities (on a summer road trip or at the beach, perhaps) everyone is probably soaking up creative inspiration.

We’re making memories and storing images and smells and sounds that become a part of who we are as people and as artists. Those memory banks can be called upon whenever we are creating.

These experiences help form who we are and give us food for thought and food for art.

So even when we are traveling or otherwise being active in the summer and don’t feel like we are being as creative (or that we are offering our children creative activities), that’s okay. There are times for action and times for contemplation.

Times for experiencing and times for processing those experiences.

Times for interacting with the outside world and times for interpreting that world (through art, writing, thought, conversation).

Watercolor Resist Paintings Inspired by Our Beach Trip

Times for jumping waves at the beach and gathering shells and times for drawing a beach scene or making melted crayon shells.

Sometimes the inspiration and the creative activity are one and the same. When experimenting with a new art material, for example.

Oftentimes they are not.

How about you?

Have you and your kids been doing more creative activities lately or have you been busy soaking up creative inspiration?

There’s no right or wrong answer here, but whichever it is, maybe it’s time to add in a bit of the other.

If you’ve been in the art room a lot lately, head out for a hike or go to the zoo. If you’ve been out and about nonstop, slow down for a minute or two and get out the art journals.

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Creative Activities versus Creative Inspiration (and Why Both are Important)

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