Plein Air Painting and Artistic Inspiration - Using Amulets, Ornamentation and Music as a Bridge into your Artistic Mind (Right Brain)While Plein Air Painting, Artistic inspiration must be coaxed softly and sweetly.How do we signal our brains and our hearts that it is time to “become artist” when we have spent all morning dealing with our job, the laundry or other mundane tasks? Most of the time we reside and operate out of our Left Brain, which is logical and linear in its thinking. This Left Brain is necessary to our survival. Left Brain is not, however, the province of creativity and the artist. Right Brain and CreativityRight Brain is the center of creativity and isn't very concerned with practicalities of everyday life or remembering time.Right Brain is all about delight with color and shape, getting joy out of playful use of paint or other materials used in artistic creations. Right Brain doesn't allow the Inner Critic in the door. Our creative side is childlike and wants to go out and play, not sit and pay the bills. When it's time to switch over from doing laundry to creating, How Do We Do That?I'll share one of the things that works for me – many other artists use the same method.Artistic inspiration arrives in many ways - this is one of them. Using Amulets and Ornamentation as a Bridge to the Right BrainOver the years I have acquired 3 special pieces of jewelry during my travels – these 3 pieces each have a story about how I found them.These stories give each piece significance. My number one piece is a silver pin depicting a wild horse decorated with metaphysical symbols. This silver horse pin represents my wild art spirit running free. The little horse represents art time to me – I always wear the pin when I am engaged in art creation and plein air painting. This piece of ornamentation has now become an Amulet. Over many years of use for this purpose only, wearing my silver horse pin now signals my brain to start the process of switching over to Right Brain in preparation for making art. It is important to select a piece of jewelry or amulet that carries an emotional charge for you – some deep connection to your inner spirit and your childlike side. Georgia O'Keeffe always wore a silver swirl pin. It certainly worked for her. Have fun finding your special piece! Using Music as a Bridge to CreativityMusic is a powerful enabler of our Right Brain.Instrumental numbers without words to focus on are best. Try music that activates the Alpha brain waves. I tend to use two or three long favored CDs that I only play when I am creating – I guess it is the same thing as using the horse pin – another layer of programming for my brain signaling that it is time for art. Feeling safe and lulled by familiar music allows me to explore new ideas, combining unusual colors , composition and paint application without anxiety. Artistic inspiration can then come softly to us, like a dream Total focus and concentration is the result. These ideas may not be for everyone but for those who love the mystical and magical, they should work in a spellbinding way.
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