The Creative Instinct

Walking slowly down the corridor of Doncaster Infirmary – because I’m accompanying my 83 year old mother-in-law, Vie, to her appointment for her gall stones – that is – getting rid of them. (Yes, I know it’s an exciting life, but somebody’s got to live it)

The walls are lined with colourful paintings – generously donated by a local art club – and they brighten up the place immensely. Many of them are technically very good, and the rest are on their way.

But please! Stop painting x#!*x!! boring flowers! Or perfect but boring bits of countryside. Or sailing ships. Yes – especially sailing ships.

Statistic time: in a recent study by The Creative Instinct Bureau of Artistic Statistics it was established that there has been an estimated 295.43% more paintings of sailing ships than actual, real sailing ships. And as it’s extremely difficult to paint a sailing ship well, most of them were painted badly. Now what’s all that about then?

So, before you paint your next sailing ship ask yourself this crucial question: does the world really need another? And then paint something else instead.

And now to continue in a more reasonable tone -

Your own creative medium may have nothing to do with painting – it may not even be ‘artistic’, but whatever it is, please spend a moment to think about what your own equivalents to flowers, scenery and sailing ships are. And if you’re only ‘painting’ them because that’s what people in your medium do, then it’s definitely worth having a rethink.

Think about what it is that really interests you; where do your passions lie? Don’t worry if it’s a little quirky or revealing – that’s what being creative is often about. And don’t worry about not pleasing the crowd, because pleasing a few people a lot is much better than pleasing a lot of people hardly at all.

But if, when it comes down to it, you do feel drawn to your own equivalent of flowers or ships, then what is it that fascinates you? Is it the colour, detail, action, connections, big picture, feeling, emotion – etc? Figure that out and yours will be the sailing ship that becomes the exception to the rule.

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Do you have a view on this post? Your comments are appreciated.