Developing fascinations…

I love to develop fascinations in my creativity – through my lens or through my pen. Flowers, selfies, swans, yarn… At the moment I find that I am fascinated by the colours of a sunset casting the unpruned vine stems into silhouettes that, in turn, create abstract patterns of stark line and soft light. 

I forget this sometimes. That I develop my creative fascinations through my practice. I think that I have nothing to write, nothing to take photographs of – no subject that calls to me. I sit and wait for inspiration to strike. And then I wait some more. And then a bit longer… before realising that inspiration isn’t coming. My muse refuses to visit me as I sit there waiting. 

You see, every now and again, I need to be reminded that inspiration likes to find us at work. If I want to be an inspired writer, I need to sit down and commit to writing. If I want to be an inspired photographer, I need to pick up my camera, remove the lens cap, and point it in the direction of something… anything. 

The muse visits when we are already ‘in practice’.  If we sit and wait for inspiration to strike before we begin, we may find ourselves waiting a lifetime. And, quite frankly, that’s too long to wait. 

My advice to both you and to me? Begin now… and develop a fascination along the way.