The most fulfilling creative phases of my life follow a rhythm: inspiration strikes, creation follows, and then the work begins. That’s when everything flows.
Other times, I have to seek out inspiration. That process often leads to experimenting with new materials, sketching, and waiting for things to click.
In that waiting, there’s nothing. That’s where I am now.
In March of this year (2023), after several months of a satisfying creative flow, I packed up my Dallas space and left. I crave routine, but just as it peaks - I feel confined by it. I wanted an adventure in another world. I wanted inspiration and energy and new ways of thinking. I had no plans, other than a one-way ticket to the other side of the world. I started in Bali, then found my way to Malaysia, Thailand, and then Japan for a month, followed by Korea, and now I am in Berlin.
It was intense. I remained busy finding places to stay, booking plane tickets, train tickets, airbnbs and hotels, checking weather, entrance requirements, and exchange rates. I was inundated with new information - languages made with little drawings and unfamiliar sounds, new flavors, and new systems.
I packed myself full of new information, and was hoping new creative ideas would come raining down on me. But currently, it's still nothing. I have no idea what I will make next. I just have to trust that something will congeal into a new idea that I can dig into. This creative gap is both an exciting and unnerving place to be.
In the meantime, I'll head back to Dallas for two months and then ... I don't know. Well, stay tuned :)
Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand
Photo: Swain McCaughrin