Finding Inspiration in Distortion

At heart, I am a surrealist. Because I am drawn to the avant-garde, my creative process often begins with my always shape-shifting muse, Distortion.

I feel like we all have a muse or two that have taken up permanent residence in comfortable corners of our minds. These residents are always ready to lend that certain je ne sais quoi, that satisfying creative spark that ignites the need to spring into action to do and create.

Though it can initially be rather subtle, inspiration is a real-life superpower, with the ability to splash lively melodies, colors and patterns onto the otherwise silent, flat tediousness we call routine (insert groan or scream here). It is from this desert that we need our muses to guide us to what I like to call the Crossroads of Creative Paradox: the frenzied serenity that is inspiration.

Inspiration, for me, lives throughout the deepest oceans or the depths of an icy glacial lake in the form of mermaids. From a mermaid’s ethereal luminosity to water’s pressure and depths gorgeously distorting shapes, color values and sounds, a mermaid and her world are an abundant creative feast!

Inspiration is not only found in the depths of unknown waters, but also deep into space. Like the ocean, the universe is a cacophony of sound, color, and light amid utter darkness, constantly shifting as pressure and vacuum distort and bend all that we can perceive, including time itself.

Inspiration also lives in people; some of whom have long since become part of the fabric of history, but are immortal through their work. Surrealist painter Frida Kahlo, her work, and her perseverance motivate me to not only push myself artistically, but also find a workaround for those various metaphorical little roadblocks that make up life.

Because I find inspiration in distortion, I feel at home in the world of the arts, specifically surrealism, and the satisfaction that is the creative process. Whether it is a small pile of gemstones that whispers a pattern to become a bracelet or a blank sheet of paper waiting to reveal my story in ink, I live for those many moments of inspiration.