Did you know that 05/30 was National Creativity Day? This is a day to embrace your creativity and engage the right hemisphere of your brain. Let it lead you wherever it wants to take you.
Sometimes when I’m listening to music, I’ll hear a guitar riff or the tapping of cymbals in just the right place. It makes me wonder what inspired the musician to add it to that moment in the melody, and what the song would sound like without it. A singer may hit a note or alter their voice in such a way that makes the lyric really stand out. We may not miss these things if they weren’t there, but now that they are part of the song, it’s hard to imagine the tune without these enhancements.
The same thing happens when looking at a painting or any other work of art. The artist instinctively knows where to place an object, brushstroke, color, etc., so that the painting or sculpture is perfect and complete. This happens in all aspects of the creative world. People in the entertainment industry have that instinct to put together the right mix of performers when casting a show. Can you imagine Seinfeld or Friends without any of their specific cast members? A comedian knows just how to land a punchline—building up the joke, pausing to let the anticipation build, and then boom . . . he or she delivers that line with just the perfect inflection and witticism, leaving the audience roaring as they sheepishly grin.
I hesitate to call myself an artist, but I’m learning to embrace and trust my instinct, and sometimes allow it the freedom to take my thoughts in a different direction. This has happened several times as I intended to write about one topic, but then the words came along and took me on an entirely different path, and I had to let it flow. The words are the boss, after all, but I still have the power to veto them or move stanzas or thoughts around. When writing down a new poem, there are often arrows and lines moving verses up or down, changing words or even whole lines, or crossing them out altogether. It is a giant word salad and it’s all a part of the process. I’m sure it’s similar to the method an artist or sculptor goes through with a sketch before they touch that canvas or piece of clay. Hopefully, in my case, a picture with words will be formed, and that paper, like a canvas, will burst to life with the image I envisioned in my head. Then other times, there are several inches of wadded-up paper on the floor from ideas that didn’t pan out. At those times, the best thing is to listen to the voice that says to walk away and let things marinate for a few days, or even weeks, until the paper can be revisited, with hopefully a better result. And that too, is in instinct that must be honed and respected.
“How sacred is the written word that paints portraits on our souls?”
—Jennifer Martin, Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul
The Artist’s Instinct
My paper is my canvas
And my ballpoint is my brush.
I try to organize my thoughts.
I try hard not to rush.
I seek to paint a picture
With the expressions that I use.
I strive to find a cadence
With the arrangement that I choose.
I attempt to get the words down fast
Before thoughts start to scatter,
Or my paper will look like a canvas
Where the paint is one big splatter.
Like an artist painting a nature scene
Knows just where to place a bird,
The meaning of a verse can change
By the placement of one word.
That artist painting an ocean scene
Putting waves upon the shore
Knows the image can quickly change
By adding one thing more.
A sculptor forming a statue
Knows just where to place a limb.
If something is placed where it doesn’t belong,
A “her” can become a “him!”
A preacher on a Sunday morning
Knows how to inflect his voice
So that he gets a loud “Amen”
As parishioners rejoice.
A musician striking the perfect note
Can change the tempo of a song.
That note placed in a different verse
Would clearly not belong.
So before I paint that picture
With my paper and my pen,
I try to have a vision in place,
And yet, then again . . .
A new picture sometimes takes place;
One I may not expect.
But words are boss, and I have learned,
My instinct I must respect.
-K.A. Bloch-
