Ive said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again - Create what you feel. Its magic when you do.
Creatives are often inspired to create from the smallest pieces of inspiration to the biggest of emotions. Tiny snippets of the world captured in a pattern on a flower petal. The giddy feeling in your stomach when you think of something special. They all help trigger creations, some good, some so-so and well others, just blah. But sometimes we can be surrounded by all the visual and emotional inspiration one needs, but it's still not enough to put paint to canvas.
Desperate to feel the magic that comes with creating, I found my self searching for something to spark it. Something that turns out, was right there all along. MUSIC. It seems so simple and obvious now, but jeepers did it take me a while to tap into its powers. Music has always been a massive part of my life. Growing up listening to Roy Orbison with Dad, Dancing to the Spice Girls in primary school and being all Punk & Emo in High School. Music has always been there. It saved me many a times. As has art. Why it took me so long to connect the two I'll never know. But I did and I'll never look back.
Fast forward on the cassette player ( kidding ) 100 days and what eventuated was an epic collection of musical abstracts. My #100daysofmusicalabstract project came to life. Painstakingly I picked 100 of my favourite songs and popped them into a playlist. Hit shuffle and just created. Songs that made me happy, songs that took me to a memorable time, songs that reminded me of a people past & present. Songs that made me sad and angry. Songs I simply have never been able to get out of my head for one reason for another. Songs, I like. Songs I love. My Songs, My Life. I've always believed you can tell a lot about a person by the mix tape in the car or their Spotify playlist, but that's another thing all together. I digress.
Headphones on, blank paper in front. Music on. It was time to just listen, feel and let go. Chords influenced movement, lyrics inspired colour, tone & tune suggested texture. Some produced a finsished product in a listen or two, others took multiple listens. But what mattered, was that I created what I felt, it didn't matter how long it took. After all, its not like its hard to listen to your favourite songs over and over again. If you stuck with me this far, play your favourite song and really listen, really feel. What colours do you see? Do you see lines or patterns?
As I sat on the floor in my creative space and stared at my 100 musical abstracts ( which had been awkwardly stuck to the wall of our rental for photographing ) I realised there was definitely something magic about merging my two loves. Art and Music. The power of this exercise has me wanting more and as I slowly get the desire to create again, its something I'm going to explore more of. So much so that volume 2 ( by request ) is underway as we speak.
But for now, you can see the full set list of #100daysofmusicalabstracts on display at In.Cube8r Gallery in Fitzroy, Melbourne Until the 27th of Jan as part of the group exhibition Play.
But in all seriousness, hit play on that favourite song and let me know what you see and feel. I'd love to know. I'll even add your song to the next 100 and see what I can create with it.
Peace, Music & Art
Tish x
P.S Create what you feel, not what you think you should feel, or what everyone else feels. Make what you feel with all your being. If you can channel it, its absolute bloody magic.