"Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you that music has boundaries. But, man, there's no boundary line to art."— Charlie Parker
American Jazz Saxophonist, Composer
1920 - 1955
Our art comes from our experiences, our thoughts, our wisdom and our dreams. If we don't live life, art won't pour out of our brushes, our pens or our voices. We need the experiences from life to generate our art. We need to have loved and had our hearts broken. We need to face failure and survive. Art comes from our imperfections, not our perfections. If the world was perfect, we would never create. There would be no reason to create. We would be happy and satisfied. Art comes from our discontent — our unhappiness, our loneliness.
So if you have been fired from your job, write a story about the experience of being fired. Paint a picture of the boss that fired you. Recreate the world the way you wish it would be. If angel of death visits those you love, find a way to turn your grief into art. If the person to whom you gave the best twenty years of your life leaves you for a younger person, create a painting of your feelings. Anything that happens to you is fodder for your creativity. Absorb the experience and re-imagine it happening to one of your characters. Did you have an unhappy childhood? Alter the past by changing the story. Your life is the fuel for your art. So live life to the fullest.
Take a few minutes and listen to Charlie Parker and be inspired.
