Inspiration - the Chicken or the Egg?

Garden at Isola Bella

Oil Painting by Pat Fiorello

If you are waiting to feel inspired to get into your studio and paint ( or substitute any activity you may be resisting)  you may be looking in the wrong place. Maybe rather than waiting for a feeling to show up, the key it to get into action- just because you said you would.

Here's a quote that I have found useful which echoes that view:

"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action. "
- Frank Tibolt

I have found this to be true- I love painting, but I am not necessarily excited to paint 100% of the time. Some days I'm tired, distracted or procrastinating. But I know if I get that brush in my hand, I will soon be in a much better state.

Another artist, Chuck Close, had this to say on the subject:

                   "Inspiration is for amateurs--the rest of us just show up and get to work." 


So the next time you are debating whether to get in the studio,  perhaps waiting for the right mood to strike, just go paint.  That may be the very thing you need to elevate your mood.