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David
and I had just finished a long photo session. We
had created and taken photos of a dozen beautiful spring floral arrangements. Our work
tables were covered with a jumble of chicken & quail eggs, wheat grass, birds nests,
flowering branches, curly willow, feathers, beads, colored wires and lovely spring
blossoms. I started sorting the leftover
flowers into buckets and thought that David was cleaning the work tables until he tapped
me on the shoulder and presented me with a nest. He had woven a nest of new leaf
willow and barked wire into a blooming almond branch. |
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The nest was lined with grasses, moss and
feathers. Tucked into the nest was a cluster
of spring flowers. It was fantastic! “What do you think of this?”, he said. “It’s beautiful, what’s it
for?” I asked. He studied the nest for a moment, “It’s for my
soul”, he answered. Not to be outdone, I
started making my own nest. It was harder than
I thought. “How did you make that
nest” I asked? David quickly demonstrated
his technique for weaving willow and barked wire into a branch. He made it look so easy, It wasn’t, the boy
must be part bird. I took his demonstration
nest, lined it with green reindeer moss and white feathers then finished it with colored
beads, and gold bullion. I painted three quail eggs gold and tucked them
into my nest. I found David photographing his
nest. “So, what do you think of my
nest?” I asked. “Cool” he
replied, “If flowers made nests and laid eggs, that’s what the nest and the eggs
would look like”. “What if flowers
hatched from eggs” I challenged?
And
that’s how one of the most creative days of my life began. Afternoon drifted into evening, our energy was
revived, night became early morning and still we created.
Flowers hatched from eggs, more elaborate nests were created, flowers
exploded and cascaded from eggs, the nests became bizarre, the designs more exciting, and everything was photographed.
Where does creativity come from?
Where do you find creative inspiration? How
do you develop creativity? How do you free your creativity?
These are questions that I am often asked by students. These questions are without easy answers. You can’t just turn on creativity like you
turn on a light switch. But, you can find
your creativity. You just have to learn how to
free and develop your creative spirit. |
