INSPIRE , “to breathe life into”
The word “inspire” is, for me, best defined as “to breathe life into”. You can certainly tell in all of the arts and some of the crafts if inspiration is lacking. Singers, Musicians, Actors, Speakers, Artists, Authors and even Teachers … When they are just going thru the motions and lacking inspiration it is obvious to all .
Always when I start to do a commission, a commercial piece or something for myself, I must first get myself inspired. I can find inspiration from the media I am going to use or the subject or the purpose behind the commission. Somewhere in there is a good bit of something that will blow the “breath of life ” into my art.
The Breath Of Life For “Corvus”
One day about 10 years ago I was driving home after a busy day at Art101. Turning down the side street to our home I could see way down the road that someone had dropped what looked to be a black plastic bag right in the middle of the street. As I slowly drove towards it I was thrilled to see it was a huge inky black raven eating a dead squirrel.
He couldn’t have cared less that I was five feet from him marveling at his purple/black color and strength as his long powerful beak pierced, cut and pulled pieces of meat off the bones of this tiny carcass. The finer feathers on the nap of his neck stood up from his shiny black humped back. I loved the way his naked legs and large feet planted him firmly as his body went off center to counterbalance the effort of his shoulders, head and beak as he pulled at this carrion with all his strength.
This image was burned into my mind in thee dimensions and ten years later it was the “breath of life” to my sculpture . My inspiration gave me total recall of what I saw so many years ago just as if it was yesterday.
Because I sculpted this piece from my memory I referenced neither a crow or a raven. Fearing it might not be accurate to either I checked out the the word “corvine” in my Dictionary App and was pleased to see this description…
—adjective pertaining to or resembling a crow… belonging or pertaining to the Corvidae, a family of birds including the crows, ravens, and jays.
The Breath Of Life For “Corporate Warrior”
Artists generally have a reputation of not being very good business men. I tried to be the exception to this rule . We built a fairly large retail business called the “Art Store & More” and for 25 years did custom framing , sold art supplies and taught art instruction. The word, “Entrepreneur” means , ” one who assumes the risks of business “. Business just seems so hard to start … hard to grow … hard to maintain and hard to foresee.
My inspiration for this piece was at first just the name, “Corporate Warrior”. That name brought to mind an iconic business man fighting to walk against the wind. I immediately saw in my mind this figure in an Art Deco / Russian propaganda style sculpture. Then I thought back to the 1960’s and the many times down at Wayne State University how the wind, whipping around tall buildings, would literally blow my briefcase backwards almost ripping it from my hand.
While doing some rough sketches I went to “Google image” and typed in the search area , ” business man walking in the wind “. My search produced dozens of images but one blurry little image really caught my eye. So that image, my own experience in the retail business, fighting the wind down town Detroit and my love for a particular style of sculpture were all the inspirations that helped breathe the “breath of life “ into me and drove me to create the “Corporate Warrior”.
REFUSE TO DO SO-SO ARTWORK WITH HO-HUM RESULTS
Don’t waste your time and energy doing un-inspired artwork. As you approach a subject describe it to yourself in great detail. Use the media that best suits the subject. Picture every stage of the creative process and even imagine it finished and how you will present it ! All of this can take just a few seconds or the minutes it takes to do a couple rough sketches and always it is the breath of inspiration that will help you get thru the throes of the creative process.
