Wednesday 21 January 2015

Running out of juice…

Why did the orange stop? It ran out of juice.

I may have mentioned that I’m going through a lull, one of those times where my creative juices don’t seem to be flowing very freely. I guess most people don’t worry about these things, but I do. It’s almost as if my life is a bit less lived when I don’t feel the urge to create something. Of course I could always force myself, but what is the point of that? Forced thrills aren’t thrilling at all.

I’m sure that there are people in this world who wake up each morning full of the creative vibe and ready to create from the moment they’ve finished their muesli. These are the people that make it their business to be creative each and every moment of the day and who, sometimes at least, have huge success with their outputs. I’m thinking Picasso, Stephen King, David Bowie. They are (or were) fountains of creative juice that can’t be stemmed.

I’m not one of those. Compared to these, and so many more, I’m a trickle.

Of course they say that there’s a creative process. Is that really true? Surely process kills creativity; at least it does in my experience of being creative. Process, a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end, is by definition ordered and planned and surely that isn’t what getting the creative juices flowing is all about. Isn’t creativity a little bit chaotic, anarchic, random, and isn’t that what attracted me to it in the first place?

Is it?

I suppose that it could be. After all, when making an omelette it’s no use cracking the eggs after the other ingredients have been eaten. Perhaps my approach is too random; maybe I should try harder and work to a method. Perhaps I already am, or maybe I’m too structured. What if the true creative cracks those eggs at the end of the process, what if he never cracks them at all?

I’m talking nonsense now I think. Even so, getting the creative juices flowing is such an effort sometimes, almost painful, so difficult. Sometimes it’s bound to be nonsense. Sometimes I find myself asking why I do it. Why do I even bother to try when most of the time it’s a struggle and all of the time it’s a disappointment?

The answer to that question is that I don’t know, I really don’t know – and if I don’t know then maybe I should stop.

Or do it more.

Perhaps that orange should have been clockwork; rather than relying on juice.

18 comments:

  1. Neil Barrett on FB
    This time of year can block your Juice pipe, mine has been capped by Red Adair.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carmel Payne Exactly on FB
      Neil Barrett.....it's January Andy!!!! It will all begin again in mid February, for you and all the others out there who have writers block etc.

      Delete
    2. Andrew Height
      I don't have writer's block Carmel. I can write shit any old time.

      Delete
    3. Carmel Payne
      Yes u can, stop begging it!!

      Delete
    4. Andrew Height
      You insult a sensitive soul with you degrading aspersions. I'm going to stamp my feet and sulk.

      Delete
    5. Carmel Payne Sorry, didn't read that properly. Thought you said you couldn't write shit!!!

      Delete
    6. Neil Barrett
      He definitely can

      Delete
    7. Carmel Payne
      Hahaha!!! He'll be stamping his feet for a while after that one Neil Barrett.

      Delete
    8. Andrew Height
      As they say Neil - Old King Cole was a twat.

      Delete
    9. Neil Barrett
      Ooh right where it hurts,grumpy!

      Delete
    10. Andrew Height
      On, no it I'm not!

      Delete
    11. Neil Barrett
      Oh yes you are,you couldn't be arsed to come and see me,unlike Chris & Joely and many others.
      Grumpy

      Delete
    12. Carmel Payne
      Stop now boys

      Delete
    13. Andrew Height
      Can I download it?

      Delete
  2. Richard Shore
    If Bowie is a fountain of creative juice that can’t be stemmed, can somebody explain Tin Machine to me?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carmel Payne
      Yep, self indulgent garbage.

      Delete
    2. Mick Norman
      I must be one of the few people that really liked Tin Machine

      Delete
    3. Andrew Height
      Richard that would be experimentation I guess. I thought that you'd know all about that given the highly creative nature of your photography.

      Delete