Take with you one heart
Inspiration can come from many sources. For me, when making this illustration, inspiration came from two things. The first was this cute jar of hearts tutorial, and the second was Austin Kleon advise in his book ‘‘Keep Going’’. He wrote ‘‘Bạn phải chú ý đến nhịp điệu và chu kỳ của sản phẩm sáng tạo, đồng thời học cách kiên nhẫn trong những mùa thấp điểm. Bạn nên cho mình thời gian để thay đổi và quan sát những khuôn mẫu cảm hứng của riêng mình…/rough translation: You have to pay attention to the rhythms and cycles of your creative output, and learn to be patient during the off-seasons. Give yourself time to change and observe your own patterns of inspiration…’’
While making these lovely hearts, I couldn’t help but link them with passions, and how certain interests just kept coming back to me after some time of rest, despite being overexploited to the point of dry-out. It was a draining way of working. I was like a greedy person who was always demanding, always taking; and when inspiration dried up, I panicked and looked for (dubious and superstitious) ways to get the flow back fast.
It was something I’m really not proud of, and the poem is a way to remind myself. Love – the source of all inspiration and creativity – is endless, but on the condition that it is nurtured and respected. Watch for exhaustion points, give it time to regenerate, have faith in where it’s leading you, and you’ll be surprise how deep this jar actually is!