Do you notice any change in your perception of inspiration over the years and the different development of maturity?
Obviously over the years my perception of inspiration has matured.
When I was young I thought that inspiration appeared suddenly and I had to paint right away before it disappeared! I used to paint landscapes then. I remember driving one day, I saw the saw. I couldn’t see the mountains because they were the same color as the sky, but, yes, I could see the snow-capped peaks. Below were the ocher and reddish colors of the mountains closer. I went home in a hurry to paint to take advantage of the ‘inspiration’.
Then I learned that inspiration can be cultivated by traveling, strolling, visiting museums and galleries, reading, meditating, listening to music, mingling with many different people, and listening to their life and experiences talk.
My concern for life helped me to mature my perception of inspiration when I began to experiment with many other techniques of artistic expression. Engraving not only helped me synthesize my work, but it opened up a multitude of possibilities and inspired me to work more. The scholarships at Frans Masereel Centrum and various awards gave me self-esteem to continue cultivating my inspiration. Sculpture stimulated my inspiration because I could use my drawings to paint or to make engravings to make sculptures or viceversa.
