Every day most of us are challenged to use our creativity in some fashion. Maybe we need to become a magician and meet an impossible deadline, or figure out how to make six rolls of sod cover an area that needs eight rolls. Or maybe we’re staring at a blank computer screen, a new text document page open, cursor blinking, awaiting our fingers to touch the keys in a stroke of genius to write that winning proposal, that amazingly heartbreaking poem, the next great American novel or a Grammy Award-winning song. The blank canvas awaiting paint. A glob of clay awaiting shaping. A difficult conversation with a spouse or mate. Whatever creative challenges we each face during our daily lives, sometimes we get stuck, find ourselves in a rut, and allegedly unable to get to the next level. We are uninspired. How do we inspire ourselves?

Recently, I received an email from a friend asking that very question. “How do you find inspiration to create?” he wanted to know. He was embarking on a new project and had hit a wall. I thought that it was courageous of him to ask someone like me, an unknown artist on the other side of the country, for advice. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and I’ve talked with other musicians and artists and asked them where they find their creativity and inspiration when they’ve got a block. I’ll focus this How to Find Inspiration article towards artists, but it can be applied in many different walks of life.

1. Deep Observation. Of self, of your surroundings, your thoughts, goals, successes and failures. I like to start outward and work in. Grab a notebook or sketchpad and head to a place that inspires me. Sometimes it’s out in nature, near a river or up in a mountain. Other times, it’s as an unnoticed face in a crowd as I people-watch. I write down thoughts and ideas as they come to me, and I go back later to reflect on the initial bursts of idea in more depth. I think about how the external themes I’ve recorded may apply to me, and then eventually ask myself how those themes can be expressed with intimate personal depth but still apply as a universal truth.

2. Other Artists. When I feel uninspired, I go to the library and sit on the floor with art books sprawled around me. I always like to choose some favorites, and a few that are unfamiliar. I keep a notebook of ideas that sometimes includes rough sketches of an idea, but always a line or two about a project I want to start. Sometimes, it isn’t the library, but the Internet where I look at inspiring artwork. Drawn!, Flickr, DeviantArt, PhotoJojo, a random Google search, The Wooster Collective, or even a place like Bighappyfunhouse. In the case of my friend, the musician, I’d try head to the record store and browse via the headphones music with which he’s unfamiliar. Ask friends to make mix CDs of new music that they’ve been listening to with which you may be unfamiliar (so that you can use it as a jumping-off point for your own creativity, of course, not to pirate music. And, if you like the stuff on the mix CD, go out and buy the original). Go see some live music of bands or genres with which you aren’t familiar. Always explore the unknown genres of art, music, whatever when finding yourself uninspired.

3. Other Types of Art. If you are a visual artist, go listen to some live music or see a play. Watch a ballet. Check out some performance art. On a budget? Check your weekly independent newspaper, often there are many free cultural events happening around town that you can take in and help fill your creativity cup.

4. Collaboration. Nothing fuels creativity like collaborating with someone else on a piece of art or a project. The major challenge when collaborating is to let go of all expectations, and allow the process to create the art along with you. It’s one of the most challenging things I’ve ever tried, but when it works, it’s a lot of fun and also very rewarding. One of the big problems for many folks when collaborating, including myself, is not only letting go of expectations, but also of ego. When you collaborate, you have to be humble and open to new input and the ideas of others.

5. Experimentation. I work a lot with collage and abstract paintings. A while back, I was tired of the art on my walls that I’d made, and tired of what I was producing. I had some huge canvases that I’d gotten for free, some time on my hands, lots of paint, and no ideas. I decided to try something I’d never done. They reason I think that the paintings were successful is that I gave myself permission to fail. Sometimes in life you may think that you do not have that luxury, but, as James Joyce said, “A man of genius makes no mistakes, his errors are volitional and the portals to discovery.” By experimenting and playing, I found some things that worked that I knew I could apply in the future, and things I didn’t like so much that I likely won’t try again.

6. Deadlines. Sometimes, there is no way around it. You have to git-r-done and you have a specific cut-off point that if you miss it, you could die. Figuratively, of course. The death might be one of public embarrassment, missing a deal at work, or closing doors in the future. Last year, I wasn’t feeling particularly motivated to make art, so I created for myself a deadline. I agreed to do an opening in June with a very short notice. I pulled it off, and the June show lead to a July show, which led to an August show that bled into September. With each show, I learned something about the process of putting a show together, but I also found myself feeling more creative and making more art.

7. Money. There is no way around it, Shakespeare’s got to get paid, Son. There will always be rent or a mortgage to make, car insurance, utilities, groceries. A person needs money to live. And sometimes when I know that I can make money by making a certain piece of art, that motivates me to make the art. If, after I’ve made it, I think it has any less passion or is in any way inferior to my other work, I don’t continue down that path. But money can be a strong motivator and inspiration.

8. Nothing. Sometimes there is absolutely no way I can get motivated or inspire myself. It’s at those times that I “just show up”, as was suggested in The Artist’s Way. Show up at the page. Write. Paint. Collage. Sing. Whatever your chosen art, show up at your specific “page” everyday and make your art. Practice makes perfect, and repetition breeds habit. Habits breed lifestyles, and if you are an artist, it is a lifestyle choice. I met Garrison Keillor once at a reception in Akron, Ohio after having heard him speak, and, at the time, I fancied myself a writer specifically. I was not focused at all on making visual art. I asked him, “What advice do you have for an aspiring young writer?” He said, “Write.” That’s it. Do it every day.

This list is, of course, not an exhaustive list. It’s a jumping-off point and can easily be added to. I invite you, especially artists, to share in the comments what inspires you to create, and how you become and remain inspired.

Donate and Support the Artist

If you found this article useful, please consider making a small donation. I accept donations in any amount, none are too small or too large. All donations and gifts will be used to further my artwork. Donations are easy to give online, via Paypal or if you would like to work out any other method of supporting your local arts, please contact me directly via email.

In the course of trying to promote my art, and art in general, I’ve signed up with montana-artists.com and elected to be updated via email about goings on. I got this email today that I think is important to share. After reading it, I encourage all Montana artists who are readers of this blog to head over to montana-artists.com and sign up while remembering to post any events you may be planning on the site.

Thanks.

Marc

I received a few emails in the last couple of weeks from people interested in art workshops. Specifically; private instruction, classes, college accreditation, etc. In most cases, they had searched on the internet for Montana art classes, Montana art events, etc, and found this web site. When they got here, they weren’t able to find any new information about what they were looking for. This is something I’d like to fix, but I need your help.

I’ve tried to populate our calendar of events myself, but it apparently hasn’t been good enough for visitors to our site. The more I’ve thought about it I realized I may not have emphasized the use of the Calendar of Events to you the Artists, Gallery Owners and Art Museum Curators. So please consider this your official invitation to post events to our Calendar.

What kind of events should be posted? Well, I guess any art related event that is open to the public, whether its’ free or paid. Classes, workshops, gallery nights, receptions, art auctions, art walks, etc.

Why should you list your events here? In March 2007, the Montana-Artists.com web site surpassed LivelyTimes.com (The Montana Arts Councils vehicle for arts event promotion) for total number of monthly web site visitors, as well as overall page views. Since then, we’ve widened the gap, and now get nearly twice as many unique visitors, and nearly three times as many page views. When people are looking for art events in Montana, it appears we are the number one stop.

If you have any questions or comments, please post them to this article, and I’ll reply to them as quickly as I can.

With Regards,

Branden

Another posting straight from the Missoula Cultural Council email distribution list.  This time, every state in the nation is directly afftected.  Read on.  Act.

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After postponing due to a procedural delay, the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to begin floor consideration of the FY 2008 Interior appropriations bill tomorrow [( 06.26.07)]. As you might have read in our Arts Action Alerts in the past few weeks, this bill includes an historic $35 million increase for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).  This increase will bring the NEA budget to $160 million and will provide new funding for the grants to state and local organizations, Challenge America, and American Masterpieces programs.  This directly affects the arts in Montana!

We learned this morning [ 06.25.070] that Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) (who received a “D” voting grade in our 2006 Congressional Arts Report Card) is planning to offer an amendment to cut funding to the NEA when the bill is considered on the House floor.  We have worked too hard to allow this amendment to pass!

If you have not yet sent a message, we ask that you take just two minutes to visit our Americans for the Arts E-Advocacy Center to contact your Members of Congress and ask them to support passage of H.R. 2643, (the House Interior Appropriations bill) and oppose this amendment.  With a few clicks, you can send this customizable message to your Representative and Senators.

It only takes two minutes to make a difference - please send this message now

The Missoula Cultural Council has redesigned its website at www.missoulacultural.org.  The site specifically focuses on resource opportunities for artists, organizations, and the media.

A directory and an event planning calendar for the performing and visual arts are available to the community free of charge. All artists and organizations are encouraged to submit information for both the comprehensive cultural directory and the event calendar. The community events calendar will be integrated with the Missoula Convention and Visitors Bureau to provide visitors to Missoula as well residents a great resource to find events going on in the community. The calendar will provide lots of practical tools such as letting website visitors schedule email and cell phone text reminders of events they wish to attend.

It’s easy to submit your information to the site if you are an artist.

1. Click the Submit an Artist button at the bottom of the page
2. Complete the form

Your listing should appear within a day or so after it is approved by an administrator at MCC.

“I’m so glad you’re doing this!” the woman said to me as she walked out of the alley. She had been out on a walk with her two young sons on a beautiful summer evening in Missoula when she stumbled upon my little impromptu art exhibition. Her sons were little artists themselves, and spent quite a bit of time coloring and drawing on a large piece of newsprint I had taped to the sidewalk, while their mother slowly walked up and down the alley, perusing my artwork.

After writing about graffiti as public art, I wanted to do some cool sort of public art myself, but wanted to do it in such a way that many could enjoy it and no one would be offended. So I packed my car full of most of my artwork and headed downtown to be a part of the First Friday Artwalk that Missoula hosts downtown each first Friday of the month. I didn’t make it to the alley until after six o’clock, and I wasn’t fully set up as the first stream of curious people began trickling in, but it was fun to have people watch me as I set up the DIY gallery.

People know that art is important, and in Missoula every first Friday of the month, they come out in droves to mingle, see art and buy art. I’ve done art shows in the past, and I’ve usually spend a good amount of money on fliers and postcards, sent out a blast email and all well in advance of the show. I wanted to see how well I would do with a one night stand in the alley, no marketing, no advanced notice, no pretension, just art. About 200 people walked through the alley that night. Some of them I knew, many of them I didn’t. It seemed that everyone was having fun and enjoying themselves.

As the evening wore on, I must admit I was a little frustrated that no one had bought anything. When I did the art in the alley show last year, it was in a different alley. I wondered if my location wasn’t right? Last year I sold some work in the alley. Sure, this year I had some inquiries, some people took a card and said they were thinking about it. But no solid sales. The sun was going down, and a guy I know only casually asked, “How much for these two?” I told him, he said, I’ll be right back,” and he left for a few minutes. He came back with cold hard cash an a promise to call me once they are hung in his house. Very cool.

I’m not sure what I’m doing next month. A business in town has approached me as a result of the show in the alley and asked if I might be interested in displaying work at their business for the month of July. I’m hoping to get something worked out on that front, and if a “real” show doesn’t pan out for August, look for me again in one of Missoula’s alleys. The only art gallery in town where you can bring your dog or smoke a cigarette while you look at beautiful art.

Yesterday, I settled in, and told myself that I was going to calmly work through the edit again. The video is 15 minutes long, and all I want to do is cut out the sections that have extreme camera shake, and a few sections that run longer than they should. I should be able to get the video down to around 8 minutes. Should be a simple task, right?So I’m going along, adding bookmarks and splitting the video clip at playhead, removing sections just fine, until around the 7 minute mark, a section I had just edited about 2 minutes ago shows up again not in sequence. I haven’t done ANY pasting, yet this clip is showing up? Why?

Google offered no love as to troubleshooting this, and no one else seems to be having this issue I decided as I trolled the Mac forums. So I must be doing something wrong, right? Or not, maybe iMove is just a piece of shite. I wish I could afford Final Cut.

I found a free editing program, AvidFree DV. I haven’t played with it yet, but will in coming days.

All told, I wasted about 5 hours on a task that should be simple. Anyone else have any similar problems with iMovie? Let me know in comments.

Flickr’s done away with NIPSA. Hallelujah.

For those of you who do no know, NIPSA was a flag that Flickr gave to users who were uploading questionable content, including non-photographic content. It stood for Not In Public Site Areas. If a user was marked as NIPSA, his photos/uploads would not display in groups to which he might belong, among other things. Now, as long as you “Make sure that all your content is categorized correctly (photos flagged as photos, screenshots as screenshots etc)” you are good to go.

When I decided to use Flickr as a showcase for my artwork, I created a new Flickr account specifically for the artwork so that my regular pro Flickr account would not be compromised with a NIPSA flag. With the new rules in place, I was able to move all of the images from the newly created account to my standard account without fear of reprisal.

Thankfully, Flickr thinks we are all stupid, and has a few “are you sure” screens forcing the user to commit to deleting his account.

Be sure to drop by my Flickr account to see my work and to peruse some of my snapshots.

Friday night I was working at the bar, and one of my would be clients showed up. Before I finish that story, though, first a little background.

Christie had been to my art show at Zoe, and had expressed interest in one of the paintings. The painting she wanted had already been sold, so she said she’d like to commission me to paint something specifically for her. Great, I would love to do that. She invites me over to her house to see the room in which she plans to hang the painting. I get an image in my head of the painting I’ll paint, and end up creating four different versions, all around 24″x36″. I bring them over to her house to test them out, and she is torn between two of them, said she needs to think about it. That’s cool.

Then, I get this voicemail from her. I call her up, tell her I’m ready when she is, but still, no love.

Alright, so getting back to the bar, Christie shows up. I ask her when she’s going to buy one of my paintings, and she tells me, “When you don’t overcharge me.”

Pricing one’s artwork is a delicate business. Christie’s comment made me revisit my pricing to see if it is fair. Below is a rough guide on how to price your artwork.

The painting in question, titled Listening for Pisino, sold for $300. One school of thought that I’ve heard in regards to pricing one’s artwork is the formula: time + materials + 20%= final cost. Using that as a guide, the painting in question would have been priced as follows:

TIME: about 2 hours - The question becomes: How much is my time worth? I think my time is worth upwards of $100/hour, but I know that those purchasing my artwork don’t think that. I need to gauge what the market will bear. As I become better known, my time becomes worth more. That being said, I “billed out” at $63/hour, so, $126.

MATERIALS: 2 entire tubes of acrylic paint @ $6/tube; 4 partial tubes of acrylic paint @ $6/tube, so maybe $8? 1 sheet paper @ $3 Total materials cost: $23.

+ 20% - $126 + $23 =$149 +20% (rounding up, about $30) = $179

The painting, when it sold, was framed by me. It took me about 5 hours to frame it, including preparing the frame, cutting the mat and cutting the glass. Now I need to add the time and materials for the framing, plus another 20%.

TIME FOR FRAMING - 5 hours @ $15/hour (grunt labor rate)= $75

MATERIALS FOR FRAMING - Mat: $9, Glass: $8 Recycled wood: $0 = $17

Total cost for framing=$92 Add 20% (again, rounding up, about $19) = $111

+
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total cost for framed painting using the time+materials+20% model= $290. Not bad, I was pretty close to the mark.

Another school of thought I’ve heard is $0.50/inch. Listening for Pisino was about 12″x12″. That’s 144 inches. Multiply that by $0.50, and the price would be $72 for the painting. If the framing still cost $111, then the total cost for the painting would have been $183.

So, of the two schools of thought that I’ve discussed above, the first one seems to work the best for me. If I was cranking out work like a machine, the second model might make more sense, so that I could sell more work. I am not a mass-producing artist, and for me, the first model works best. Christie, however, would probably disagree with me.

How do you artists out there price your work? Let me know in the comments.

Every time I put a show together, one of the things on my todo list is “Create eye-catching postcards and fliers”.  I have an internal dialogue with myself when I sit down with Photoshop to knock out a couple of ideas.  Should I make something that is readily identifiable as “Marc Moss”, and stick with it?  Sort of a “brand recognition”. 

So far, I have resisted this, and instead experiment with something new each time.  It seems more fun to me that way, and I get a feel for what “works”, and what doesn’t.

While thinking about postcards and fliers, I have found a method that helps me hone the concepts I want to use in presenting myself.  I keep a little notebook of other people’s postcards that I’ve found “works”.  Every time I go to an art opening, or some other event that has postcard shwag, I’m sure to grab one to throw into my little notebook.  Then, when it comes time for me to design my postcard or flier, if I’m feeling uninspired, I just flip through the book.

Do you have any tricks that help you when designing a flier or postcard?  Let me know in the comments.

Technorati Tags: marketing, art exhibition, postcard, flier