Creating the Conditions for Creativity

My trip to Paris felt like I had arrived home. I know this sounds cliche, but it was a truly magical experience for me. Obviously spending time with Joe and our son Andrew, contributed to this feeling, but it was so much more than just their presence. The art, the culture, the food, the design. The limestone buildings with the black wrought iron balconies from the Haussmann era, to the vivid colours, and patterns in much of the interior design that I encountered. I could feel eras of creativity all around me, like it was ‘hugging me’. All of it left me feeling like I was meant to be there, I belonged there and it created a thirst to dive into my own creativity. I absolutely loved it. 

A turning point for me was during our visit to the Musee D’Orsay where we experienced the talent and unbelievable beauty of the works by Impressionist painters including Monet, and Renoir. When I tell you that I was left speechless and in a daze, I truly was. I spent my time absorbing their paintings, techniques and quietly tried to picture them painting these works of art. The weeks, months, even years it took to bring their paintings to life. Sitting in the streets, the cafes or in gardens around Paris and in France. The tension they must have felt;  feelings of excitement and but also those of sheer fear each time they submitted their work to the Academie in those early years. Then feelings of despair and frustration when they were rejected by this group and their peers. But they still felt the pull to keep moving on and trying again. 

As I was standing there I couldn’t help but imagine the emotions that they could have felt. Their use of colour and their subject matters made it more real to me. It was like each of these painters including Renoir and Monet felt connected with a creative force that was so much deeper than what we can imagine. My question was, how did they tap into this force? What was the environment like when they were painting? Did they have a particular way of painting that enabled them to create like no one had ever seen? 

This experience made me reflect on my experience with creativity and design. Was I approaching it the wrong way? Was there something about the creative process that I have missed all of these years? Is it possible for me, little old me, to tap into something that almost appears, ‘beyond’ myself?

By nature, I’m a creative soul. I look at the world in a uniquely ‘Beth’ way. I see colour and texture, where people might see an object only. When one might see a murky brown river after a long summer’s rain. I see a river rich with energy and colour, getting a new quest in life. When it comes to my creative practice, it involves periods of solitude early in the morning, or later in the morning after the day has begun. I need quiet, a place to contemplate, and reflect. At this stage in life, I know that I’m always more creative in the earlier portions of the day before my responsibilities take over. Movement is another important key to opening my creative self. A run or walk in nature with no devices can spur ideas that leave me excited and eager for more. But on more days than not, life as a mom and business owner always gets in the way. 

I wonder if Monet and Pissarro felt the pressures of time and to-do lists that I feel today? Or did they ignore these pressures and instead choose to move freely in their creative process? Likely. The analytical part of me says that there is no way I could move any more freely than I am now, but what if I’m wrong? What if I have my whole process wrong? Should I try another way and see what comes from me? I know that it’s not about becoming more creative, it’s about creating the conditions by which creativity can arise. I need to ponder this.

With the advent of AI, I wonder how it is disrupting our creative process? I love using AI for some purposes, but are we not losing the entire experience and joy of the creative process if we let AI create it for us? The art of producing a product that is uniquely our creation based on our own perspective? This gift is our unique human experience and one that AI robs from us. I will be honest, the business owner in me feels the pull to AI, but the creative being deep in me, feels the need to do it the ‘old school’ way, the way that creators have approached their art for years. The way Monet and Renoir did. By just being and exploring the human experience. 

I love what I do for a living; working as a designer. I’m so blessed to get paid to make my client’s spaces beautiful through my creative interpretation. I could use AI to push through more projects and to get more done, but I choose the experience instead. Like writing this blog. I know how much I thrive on this experience and the joy of sharing the fruits of my creative labour with my clients and readers. Perhaps it’s worth pondering that it’s not about becoming more creative, but rather creating the conditions by which creativity can arise.