Edvard Munch

The Scream
(1893)

"I was walking along a path with two friends, the sun was setting.  I felt a breath of melancholy.  Suddenly the sky turned blood-red.  I stopped and leant against the railing, deathly tired, looking out across flaming clouds that hung like blood and a sword over the deep blue fjord and town.  My friends walked on.  I stood there trembling with anxiety and felt a great, infinite scream pass through nature."

— Edvard Munch

Norwegian Painter

1863 - 1944

Edvard Munch
1921

Edvard Munch was inspired to paint The Scream by what he felt.  He later said: "For several years I was almost mad. . . You know my picture, The Scream? I was stretched to the limit — nature was screaming in my blood. . . After that I gave up hope ever of being able to love again."

What drives you to paint?  What inspires you to write?  Is it light or darkness?  Fear or compassion?  Beauty or pain?  What message do you want to communicate?  What is your vision of the world?  Does your creative work come from deep within your soul?  Do you paint what you feel?  Do you write what you experience?

Marcel Duchamp

"I force myself to contradict myself, so as to avoid conforming to my own taste."

Marcel Duchamp

French Artist

1887 - 1968

Nude Descending
A Staircase No. 2
(1912)

Do you ever feel that you are in rut — repeating the same stories over and over, painting the same landscape again and again?  Sometimes we fall into a rut and don't even know.  Our creative works become the same — bland and boring.  What are you doing to make your art fresh and new?  How do you challenge yourself to step outside your comfort zone?  How do you avoid old habits?

As creative leaders, you need to challenge yourself — explore new territory, try new ideas.  We all can become stale and tired.  You need to find new sources of ideas — new ways of seeing the world.

Beatrice Wood

Photo by
William Gray Harris

"Very few people know how to work.  Inspiration, everyone has inspiration, that's just hot air."

— Beatrice Wood

American Potter, Artist

1893 - 1998

I have often heard beginning writers say that they only write when they are inspired.  Unfortunately, if they wait until they are inspired, their output will be very small.  Most experienced artists and writers know they must work whether they are inspired or not.  Often when we work the inspiration will arrive on its own time and when we least expect it.  

Success comes from work.  Work when you are sad.  Work when you are happy.  Work when you don't feel like it.  Work when you want to go to a movie.  Our minds are very good at finding excuses for not working.  "I have to do the dishes."  "I have to wash the clothes."  And the list goes on.  Work takes discipline and will power.  

See writing and painting as a job that you need to show up to every day.  Since you have no boss but yourself, you have to hold yourself accountable.  Schedule your hours when you are most creative and stick to your schedule.  Maybe you write between 5 am and 6 am.  Or if you have the luxury, schedule your work hours from 8 am to 5 pm with an hour off for lunch.  Some writers write in the morning and do their research and marketing in the afternoon.  You have to find the schedule that best fits your temperament.

Flannery O'Connor

"Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days."

— Flannery O'Connor

American Novelist

1925 - 1964

Do you remember your childhood?  Some people block out memories of their childhood?  Others have a difficult time forgetting even the most painful memories.  As artists and writers we can mine our past experiences for inspiration for our art.  What events out of your childhood can you use in your stories or your art?  Remember art should transform the actual events into more than just the mere facts like spinning straw into gold.




Here are links to three story poems where I transformed childhood stories and events into more than family history — where I discovered a truth greater than facts.




Mary Lou

http://web.mac.com/hgking/HarleyKing/Mary_Lou.html



Sister

http://web.mac.com/hgking/HarleyKing/Sister.html




Brother Al

http://web.mac.com/hgking/HarleyKing/Brother_Al.html

Martin Luther

"Music is the art of the prophets, the only art that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us."

— Martin Luther

German Priest, Theologian, Bible Translator, Hymn Composer

1483 - 1546

For those who have not heard of Martin Luther, he was a Catholic priest who inspired the Prostestant Reformation in 1517 by nailing his 95 theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany.  He helped change the course of Christianity.  I heard about Martin Luther early in my life, but I never knew that he translated the Bible from Latin to German or that he composed hymns.  He had a creative nature.

And I believe as does Martin Luther that music heals the soul and takes us to a whole other world.  Do you listen to music when your write or paint?  What kind of music inspires your creativity?  And if you compose music, are you ever inspired by a painting or a novel?  I believe the arts are intertwined and interconnected and touch our souls at a deep level.

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

Self-Portrait

(1804)

"A painter can turn pennies into gold, for all subjects are capable of being transformed into poems."

— Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

French Artist

1780 - 1867

The Valpincon Bather

(1806)

Some people believe that art is only about painting beauty.  Other people believe that writers should not write about certain subjects.   And still others seek to censor artists and writers.  Think about books that have been banned in school districts or art that is considered pornographic.  The American Library Association publishes online a list of 100 novels that have been banned from time to time.

What subjects do you avoid painting or writing about?  In what ways do you censor your own creative tendencies.  Do you paint to please others?  Do you avoid writing about certain events because it could hurt others?  How do you choose the subjects that you paint or write about?  Or does the subject choose you?  Do write about what interests you or do you write what you think the world wants to read?  Consider how many writers now write about vampires since the success of Ann Rice.  Or how many writers follow in the footsteps of the Harry Potter books.

Do you think Ingres is correct?  Can a painter can turn pennies into gold?  Can a writer make any subject poetic?  

Louise de Broglie

(1845)

Jackson Pollack

"The painting has a life of its own.  I try to let it come through."

— Jackson Pollock

American Artist

1912 - 1956

Many painters and writers talk about the work of art as having a life of its own.  For me, this is one of the joys of the creative process — that moment of discovery when I am following the story, waiting to see where it will take me.  If the creative leader gets in the way of creative process, the work of art can be disfigured, paralyzed or even still born.  Don't let your idea of the painting or the story prevent the true work of art from being born.  What is in your mind's eye may not happen on paper or canvas.




Here is the trailer of a must see Jackson Pollock movie directed by Ed Harris.

Alan Alda

"Be brave enough to live creatively.  The creative is the place where no one else has ever been.  You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.  You cannot get there by bus, only by hard work, risking and by not quite knowing what you are doing.  What you will discover will be wonderful: yourself."

— Alan Alda

American Actor, Director, Screenwriter

1936 - 

Have you visited the wilderness of your intuition?  Have you listened to the voice within your spirit?  Have you descended into the depths of your soul?  Have you discovered the nature of your existence?  Creativity is a journey of the spirit to realms not seen by the ordinary eye.  If you have been blessed with the opportunity to travel this road, then you understand the healing power within your soul.  God walks with each of us.  We must learn to decipher his voice from the chaotic noise so we may enjoy the majesty of beauty.

Louise Nevelson

"Another thing about creation is that every day it is like it gave birth, and it's always kind of innocent and refreshing.  So it's always virginal to me, and it's always a surprise."

— Louise Nevelson

American Artist

1899 - 1988



Sky Cathedral

(1958)



Does your creative work surprise you?  Do you find yourself full of joy when you are working?  Are you excited about the possible outcome?  Creative work should be fun and bring us moments of happiness.  If it is a struggle for you to create, then you need to work on freeing the creative juices.  These days I can sit down at my desk and write without hesitation.  I just start writing and don't worry about the outcome.  And most times I have no idea where the story will go or what the characters will say.  The same with art.  I pick up the pen and start drawing.  I have muzzled that voice inside that always wants to criticize and tell me how terrible I am.  I don't give him a chance to scream at me.  I am learning to enjoy the moment.



Sara Teasdale

"It is my heart that makes my songs . . . ."

— Sara Teasdale

American Poet

1884 - 1933

Our most original creative work comes from the heart.  The heart produces work that is more authentic than work produced by the analytical brain.  Analytical stories and poems fail to connect with the hearts of the readers and leave them wanting more.  Creative work that does not come from the heart can be cold and uncaring.  You will do your best work if it comes from the heart.  

Debt

by Sara Teasdale

What do I owe to you

     Who loved me deep and long?

You never gave my spirit wings

     Nor gave my heart a song.

But, oh, to him I loved,

     Who loved me not at all,

I owe the little open gate

     That led through heaven's wall.

(Originally published in Poetry, March 1914.)

Bebe Moore Campbell

"As I grow older part of my emotional survival plan must be to actively seek inspiration instead of passively waiting for it to find me."

— Bebe Moore Campbell

American Novelist

1950 - 2006

Where do you find inspiration?  Do you wait for inspiration to hit you like a lightening bolt or are you actively looking for events, people, places and objects to inspire you?  I believe we need to constantly be stoking the fires of creativity.  And we can do this by exploring places we have never been, immersing ourselves in new cultures and meeting new and unusual people.  We can also stoke the fires by reading books on history, biographies and memoirs.  If we wait for inspiration to strike, we may be along time in waiting.  What do you do to stoke the fires of creativity in your life?

Elizabeth Bebe Moore was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in elementary education and taught school in Atlanta, GA.  Her first book was a work of nonfiction, Successful Women, Angry Men: Backlash in the Two-Career Marriage.  She was the author of three New York Times bestsellers:  Brothers and Sisters, Singing in the Comeback Choir and What You Owe Me, as well as two picture books for children.  Elizabeth Bebe Moore Campbell died on November 27, 2006 from brain cancer.

Eugene Delacroix

Self-Portrait (1837)

"What moves men of genius, or rather what inspires their work, is not new ideas but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough."

— Eugene Delacroix

French Artist

1798 - 1863

Orphan Girl at the Cemetery

(1923)

Why do you write?  Why do you paint?  What inspires your creative work?  Do you have something new to say to the world?  Are you obsessed with telling the world what you know?  We each create for different reasons — some we are conscious of and others that are hidden even from us.  

I personally believe that there is little in the universe of humanity that has not been thought, said or written by someone somewhere, but fortunately, we have forgotten much of what has been learned by previous generations and each generation has to learn anew.  It is in the relearning of the forgotten that we have the inspiration to create what has not been created — to reshape the myths of the world.

I challenge each creative leader to study history — to understand what happened before you were born.  It is in the knowing of the past that you can begin to reshape the future — to create anew that which is ancient, to find the thread that ties us together.

Liberty Leading the People

(1830) The Louvre

Katharine Graham

"To love what you do and feel that it matters — how could anything be more fun?"

— Katharine Graham

American Publisher

1917 - 2001

Do you love to paint?  Do you love to write?  Do you love to act?  Do you love to draw?  What is your passion?  If you do not enjoy writing or singing or painting, then maybe it is time to get out of the creative business and find something you love to do.   The creative world is difficult and if you don't have fun being creative, you will feel like you have been hit by truck. 

What we as creative leaders do is very important.  We touch people's lives and help them feel better about themselves.  We solve problems and show the world a better way.  We bring beauty and ideas into the world.  We help people escape their mundane worlds for a short time.  We inspire people to be better than they are.  We give hope where there is none.  We help people visit new worlds and experience new places.

Jack London

"You can't wait for inspiration.  You have to go after it with a club."

— Jack London

American Novelist

1876 - 1916

If you wait for inspiration, you may never find it.  Inspiration sneaks upon you when you are working and catches you by surprise.  Inspiration invades your dreams and you wake up with the answer to your problems.  When you pretend that inspiration is not important, it dominates your soul.  

Consider inspiration as a friend who comes and goes at all hours of the day and night bearing gifts that will delight you.  When you open the gifts offered by inspiration, be not frightened by what you find.  Cherish the madness that inspiration bestows upon you.  Taste the sadness when it leaves you naked and exposed to the elements.  

Kneel before the altar of inspiration and pray that you will survive the dangerous journey.  Catch fireflies and offer then as a sacrifice to the gods of inspiration.  Dance with the goddess of inspiration and steal her beauty.  Offer a prayer of thanksgiving for an opportunity to taste of the joy of the gods.

Charles Demuth

Self-Portrait (1907)

"Paintings must be looked at and looked at and looked at. . . . No writing, no talking, no singing, no dancing will explain them."

— Charles Demuth

American Artist

1883 - 1935

The Figure 5 In Gold (1928)

Inspired by a poem of

William Carlos Williams:

The Great Figure

One of the lessons I learned early in my career is not to explain my poetry to others.  If I had to explain it, then either I did not succeed or the reader failed to understand.  I would attend writer's groups where we would share our work and then the group would critique it.  Some writers would keep trying to explain their poems if they didn't feel the group grasped the meaning of the poem.  I think the same is true of any art form.  You don't need to explain your work.  A painter shouldn't explain the meaning of his painting.  The viewer has the responsibility in the communication exchange to study the work to the best of his ability just as the reader also has some responsibility.  It is a two way street.  

The Great Figure

by William Carlos Williams

Among the rain

and lights

I saw the figure 5

in gold

on a red

firetruck

moving

tense

unheeded

to gong clangs

siren howls

and wheels rumbling

through the dark city.

Bill Moyers

"Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous."

— Bill Moyers

American Journalist

1934 -

Most artists and writers will tell you that there are periods where the work can be boring, dull and mundane.  You feel like everything is on hold and then inspiration arrives in a flash as the light bulb goes off and the sun explodes.  In between the lightning bolts of creativity are hours and days of routine and monotonous work.  But when moment of insight arrives, the heart races to keep up with the mind and elation abounds.  And you know the long wait was worth it.

Dame Barbara Hepworth

"I found one had to do some work every day, even at midnight, because either you're professional or you're not."

— Dame Barbara Hepworth

English Sculptor

1903 - 1975

Discipline is one of the keys to being an artist or a writer.  One needs to work every day.  People often say: 'I work when I am inspired.'  If you wait until you are inspired, you will be waiting a long time.  If you work whether you are inspired or not, you will find that soon inspiration will become a constant companion.  Work opens up the creative spirit and the inspiration flows.  So my message is simple:  work every day even if it is for only 15 minutes.

Georgia O'Keefe

"Come quickly.  You mustn't miss the dawn.  It will never be just like this again."

— Georgia O'Keefe

American Artist

1887 - 1986

How much do we miss because we don't take the time to see it?  How many sunrises or sunsets have you spent time just enjoying the beauty?  Or are you like me — running from place to place, not spending time enjoying the beauty of nature?  I have lived through over 22,000 sunrises and 22,000 sunsets.  I would be lucky if I saw 200 of them.  I could probably count on one hand those I remember.  How much we miss because we are busy elsewhere!!

Bernard Malamud

"Without heroes, we are all plain people and don't know how far we can go."

— Bernard Malamud

American novelist

1914 - 1986

Who are your heroes?  Who are the people who inspire you?  We all need heroes.  Growing up my heroes were baseball players like Bob Gibson and Stan Musial.  In college my political heroes were Eugene McCarthy, Senator, and Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader.  The poets who were my heroes in those college years were T. S. Elliot, Arthur Rimbaud and Theodore Roethke.  When I got into business, my hero was Tom Peters.  I modeled my speaking style after his.  Harry S. Truman, 33rd President, is another of my heroes.  Who are your heroes?  Who has inspired you?  Heroes are important because they role-model what we want to be.  They push us to go farther than we think possible.

Georgia O'Keefe

"Imagination makes you see all sorts of things."

Georgia O'Keefe

American Artist

1887 - 1986

Imagination is essential and necessary for the creative leader — writers, artists, poets, storytellers, musicians.  And in my experience we have very little control over it.  It appears when it wants to.  Have you ever struggled with a problem and could not find the answer and suddenly it appeared out of nowhere.  A few weeks ago, I was struggling with a project and during my morning walk at 5 am, the answer popped into my head.  Take good care of your imagination.  Encourage it.  Feed it.  Stretch it.  Trust it.  And believe in it.  Imagination is one of the best gifts that you have been given.

Do you know what it means to feed your imagination?  Give it large doses of information.  The creative mind needs information to be able to connect the dots between the strange and the obscure.  Read books on all kinds of topics.  Listen to people tell their stories.  Observe and study nature.