E is for Einstein

There was a great deal more to this man than wild hair and physics. In fact, he came up with one of my favourite quotes about creativity:

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand."

Imagination takes me places that my life does not. I visit planets, lead revolutions and hang my paintings in the kinds of galleries frequented by people with deep pockets. My imagination has the capability of doubling two and getting five. It knows no bounds. It believes in anything it chooses.

Imagination is a powerful thing, which when mixed with its cousin intuition, opens the door to creativity. From this heady mix have come pieces of music powerful enough to bring you to tears, creatures the like of which we have never seen, heroes and villains and technology that blows your mind!

Day 5 of the Blogging A-Z. I'm enjoying this :)

Blurring the lines

This is a great quote from Lady Gaga.

Einstein has a intelligent things to say on the subject too. He writes that the gift of fantasy means more to him than any talent for abstract positive thinking. He acknowledges that our imagination is more important than knowledge too "for knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand."

The alarm clock pulled me this morning from my fantasy village. It's a place I don't believe I've ever been yet I visit it many times in my dreams - a thriving community with tea rooms and antique shops; places to work, play and explore. History and interest paint the landscape and the community gives it soul. So far the only downside to this fantasy location is the parking. Last night my car got towed and I faced a fine of £320 for its return - let's hope that one remains firmly locked in the pages of fantasy - or maybe I should just take extra care where I leave my car this week.

As I paint and create I let my imagination flow. Gone are the days when I feel obliged to capture reality in my artwork. Instead, just a sense of it is enough, with the colours and textures telling their own stories.

Sharing with Take a Word's Fantasy theme. This piece is a fantasy mixture of three pieces of art - don't you just love how PhotoShop can bring your wildest fantasies to life?!

Feeling bookish

Einstein said that "Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking."

It's an easy thing to do. I use reading as procrastination all the time. After all, delving into a book about 'The Art of Possibility' or 'Resonating through visual presentation' is work right? It's education, it's honing my craft... Well, yes, but it's not much use if all you ever do is read and never apply. Or, worse still, if you take what the author says as 'read' and don't mix in your own opinion and experience - your unique point of view.

This piece is part inspired by Modigliani (he of the long face predilection) and Audrey Hepburn (she of the pretty face). Audrey wrote that:

"Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering - because you can't take it in all at once."

This lady, who wears Audrey's quote across her chest like a cosy scarf, is wide-eyed in wonder. Her mind fills with creative fuel until she can do nothing else but light the touch paper...

Sharing for The Butterfly Effect's theme of Books.