The Return of Inspiration

I was honoured to participate in a staff dinner celebration with the co-workers I love and special guest poet Malcolm Guite. Who could fail to be inspired by such an experience as this? I sat across from him at the table for almost three hours, listening to him talk, including jokes and sonnets.

A man stopped by our table to say hello to our manager's wife, Kim. He was a local Winnipeg poet, and was introduced to Malcolm, who engaged him in greetings. Then Malcolm shared his own sonnet with the fellow. I was unable to hear the words as he spoke to him, but I saw his reaction. His eyes widened and he was moved and amazed at the words Malcolm spoke. 

Inspiration block is a common occurrence to all artists, including Malcolm himself. He told me the story of "Saying the Names," which was the sonnet included in the portrait of Malcolm that he has on display in his own home. Apparently he had a list of the various Biblical names of Christ on a piece of paper that he kept in his wallet for a very long time. It wasn't until a bus ride and a peek at the list where the new sonnet suddenly came forth. 

I have experienced an unusually long inspiration block, and I was at the point of sharing with my artist's group at church that I felt that my painting was no more. We had an assignment to contribute a piece of art for a Christmas display at church, and the deadline was looming. I went as far as blocking out some colour background on a wooden panel, but nothing happened for a while.

Inspiration used to come to me in dreams or visuals when I would wake, or ideas on outdoor walks. Forcing it didn't work.

Fortunately, I finally did dream of a painting, and awoke excited and ready to paint. I finished in time for the showing at my church, and proudly have it on display there for a few weeks before Christmas.

My fellow artists in the group had similar difficulties with their art, and we all managed to come up with beautiful artworks to commemorate the season.

Below is a photo of our team by photographer from B2 Photography. She did lovely photos of all of us.





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