#13: And When The End Is Nigh

It has finally come to end of this blog assignment, an assignment to come up with posts of what inspires one to think creatively. It's been a really fun ride, to see in things in new perspectives, to see the beauty and creativity in everything.

As my final post, I honestly would have to say that this assignment had my eyes peeled open on what would inspire me creatively, on what would allow me to take a step back and breathe. Doing this blog is definitely something I enjoyed, writing about what I love, sharing what I find interesting and falling back in love with things things I tend to overlook, with things that, although simple in nature and laid open in plain sight, have somehow taken a back seat.

Working on this blog for the past weeks have taught me to look for inspiration in simple things, in things complex in nature, in photographs, in books, in music, in events and the people around me. Sometimes, we just have to stop a moment and look around. Stop a moment and really be open to everything around us. When we do, we discover, or rather, rediscover, things about ourselves and all that surround us. When we pause a while to drink in the moment, a moment when we find ourselves reflecting on what we love, on what inspires us, that is when we can be truly thankful for a lot of things. Thankful for music which reflects our feelings, for books which become our constant companions, and for people who are an extension of who we are.

P.S.: Thank you, Ms Ruth :)

#12: A White Blank Page

I truly love Mumford & Sons' debut studio album Sigh No More and my favourite song in the album is definitely "A White Blank Page". This song, albeit simply, conveys so much meaning. Every note speaks volumes and overflows with a range of emotions, from anger, love, jealousy and fear.

My interpretation of this song is that humans are, to a certain extent, ruled by emotions. They move us, influence our decisions. The ability for us to feel emotion is a gift and at times, a curse. Through a few simple lines, this song shows love as an emotion, the most beautiful emotion of all, that blinds all logic, a driving emotion that by itself, leads us to feel other emotions; desperation, fear, anger. Some of us love half-heartedly and then there are those who love others with everything they have, even if the feelings aren't reciprocated.

This song makes me think about how it can be possible to be so consumed by what may seem so good, to the point that makes us ask, "where was my fault in loving you with my whole heart" and later be enveloped in negativity when they find out that the feeling isn't mutual. All sense and logic is lost and what was at first something so pure, becomes so mixed up and you see the person as human as you never wanted to see them. You are then left to wonder how everything could go so wrong, how love could send you over the edge.

Mumford & Sons' "A White Blank Page" shows that by allowing raw emotion to shine through, we can infinitely come up with something that touches us to the core. Simple lyrics, amazing music which has been translated from an ocean of emotions has never moved me as much as this song has. "A White Blank Page" is just one of the amazing songs in the album whereby each lyric, each moment, tugs at our heartstrings. It isn't easy to listen to Mumford & Sons' melancholy tracks without experiencing musical frissons.

Can you lie next to her

and give her your heart, your heart?

As well as your body

And can you lie next to her

and confess your love, your love?

As well as your folly

And can you kneel before the King

and say I'm clean, I'm clean?

But tell me know where was my fault,

in loving you with my whole heart?

Oh, tell me now, where was my fault, in loving you with my whole heart?

A white blank page 

and a swelling rage, rage

You did not think when you sent me to the brink, to the brink

You desired my attention but denied my affection,my affection

So tell me now where was my fault,

in loving you with my whole heart?

Oh, tell me now where was my fault in loving you with my whole heart?

Lead me to the truth and I will follow you with my whole life

Oh, lead me to the truth and I will follow you with my whole life

References:

MumfordAndSonsVEVO. (2011, Sept 1). Mumford & Sons - A White Blank Page. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjP2BQA5HRI

#11: Chapters

As most of my family and friends would know, I have this weird affinity towards books, the way it looks, the way it smells and of course the stories books contain. One of my favourite photographers on Flickr, Boy Wonder did this amazing photography set on books and I was mesmerized at the result of his conceptual theme revolving around books.

Tall Tales (by Boy_Wonder)

Bookworm (by Boy_Wonder)

A few of his photographs manage to just capture what I feel most of the time when I read which is the feeling of discovery and adventure, a feeling of a comforting solitude. Boy Wonder definitely lives up to his name as he pulls of amazing forms of conceptual photography and fine art. His creativity in coming up with new, interesting, fresh, unique and original concepts for his photographs daily shows me that creativity can be translated any way and any time we want it.

Yes, yes - but you would have to be half-mad to dream me up (by Boy_Wonder)

The Reader (by Boy_Wonder)

R is for Reading (by Boy_Wonder)

The beauty in most of his photographs comes from the fact that he seems creates these amazing photographs by recreating the scene exactly the way he sees it in his head. This can also be seen, not only within this particular set but through most of his photographs. He has this ability to somehow recreate scenes that only exist within our minds and transform it into photographs which just captures the essence of what we might imagine or feel but are unable to pen down or explain. Call it conceptual photography, call it fine art, call it both, Boy Wonder's creative photographs grabs the core of imagination and blows us away with it direct meaning.

F is for Finding Fiction in the Forest (by Boy_Wonder)

A Stack Of Books Is Meant To Be Read Out Loud (by Boy_Wonder)

What I learned just by browsing through his photographs is that we can be creative by just penning down exactly what we feel or to simply draw what we see in our minds. And although it might not come out how we might want it to, the results would be original, it would be unique and it would be your signature. Creativity is all about you and what you think is your reality.

"I don't paint dreams or nightmares; I paint my own reality." - Frida Kahlo

References:

Boy_Wonder. (n.d.) Chapters. Retrieved from  http://www.flickr.com/photos/joel_r/sets/72157630845745486/

#10: Le Petit Prince

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is a French aristocrat writer and poet who wrote the highly acclaimed book entitled "The Little Prince". This book is the most read and translated book in French, thanks to the story and underlying message within the book which has captivated both children and adults alike. Although it is classified as a children's book, it incorporates profound and idealistic observations of life and human nature. 

In the beginning of the book, the narrator, which is The Pilot, begins his story by retelling his life as a young boy, describing how he showed a drawing of his to the adults. The following is an excerpt from the book itself.

My drawing No. 1 was like this:

I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups and asked them if my drawing frightened them.

They answered: "Why should anyone be frightened by a hat?" My drawing did not represent a hat. It was supposed to be a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. So I made another drawing of the inside of the boa constrictor to enable the grown-ups to understand. They always need explanations. My drawing No. 2 looked like this: 

The grown-ups then advised me to give up my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and to devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar. Thus it was that I gave up a magnificent career as a painter at the age of six. I had been disappointed by the lack of success of my drawing No. 1 and my drawing No. 2. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves and it is rather tedious for children to have to explain things to them time and again.

The excerpt above is just one example of the abstract content within the book which depicted the profound observations of adults through the eyes of children and vice versa. Through this book, we come to see that sometimes we have to look at things in different ways and to see things in different perspectives. This book shows the creativity of a child in seeing what may not be as obvious as it seems to others.

"All grown-ups were children first. (But few remember it)." - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

References: 

de Saint-Exupéry, A. (1995). Chapter One. In The Little Prince. (pp. 10-11). London, Great Britain: Wordsworth Classics.

#9: Connect Them Dots

I came across one particular video one day of an artist, Miguel Endara, who used 3.2 million, I repeat, MILLION, ink dots to draw a portrait of his father. The amount of time, patience and obviously, creative talent, that was involved when he came up with that astounding piece of art is highly inspiring.

Endara dubbed the video The Making of "Hero", and throughout that 2 minutes, we witness how a blank piece of paper is slowly filled out with ink dots to form a face of a person. At the start of the video, Endara merely draws a very simple outline of his father's face and then later proceeds to filling the outlines with millions and millions of ink dots. His attention to detail, particularly the spacing between the dots which produces different shades within the portrait to create the eyebrows, the wrinkles, even the stubble of his father's beard and moustache, accentuates the contours of a face just shows how much heart has gone into the making of that portrait. The final product is an extremely realistic portrait of his old man. This video has shown me that art takes time, dedication and passion.

Even the way the video was created also showed a form of simplistic creativity by the way of counting the number of dots as the portrait was being drawn and it highlighted the method the artist use to come up with different shades within the portrait itself.

The Making of "Hero" from Miguel Endara on Vimeo.

References : 

Miguel Endara. (2012). The Making of "Hero" on Vimeo. Retrieved from http://vimeo.com/33091687

#8: Being Crazy Isn't Enough

Some of us would know most of the catchy and memorable books written by Dr. Seuss and know by heart which quote belongs to which book and even which character said that particular quote. His published collection of children's books are often remembered thanks to its imaginative characters, subtle moralities and most importantly, the way the book is written in rhymes.

To name a few, Dr Seuss' bestselling children's books include Green Eggs and Ham, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Horton Hears A Who! and The Cat in the Hat.

All of these books consists of stories told in rhymes as well funny and imaginative characters, quotes and story line. What all of his books have in common in terms of illustrations is simplicity, be it the way the characters are drawn or the colours of the illustrations, simplicity is what also captures our attention.



Dr Seuss' books mostly consists of characters he dubbed the Whos' and he himself came up with the illustrations of how a Who looks like. Recurrent in books like Horton Hears A Who! and How The Grinch Stole Christmas, the Whos' just add to the what makes his books what it is.

What I find most creative about all of his books are the quotes one can find. The quotes incorporated within the rhyming sentences in Dr Seuss' books are like a summary of what the book is all about. These quotes have somehow managed to define what most of us feel inside, be it the weirdness in us and how we should be true to ourselves, that the people that matter don't mind and the people who mind don't matter, Dr Suess' play on words and the meaning these rhymes bring says out loud the moralities that we tend to overlook.

"You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book." - Dr Seuss

#7: Creative Advertising

Nowadays, we are bombarded by companies advertising their various products or services and in order to "stay in the game", companies have to come up with creative ways of catching people's attention. I came across several advertisements through the net and, honestly, the humour injected into the advertisements were what caught my attention. These advertisements below prove that a little humour goes a long way and has a unique way of getting the message across.

Bergmann funeral service advertisement 

Australia Post: If you really want to touch someone, send them a letter

Glassex - For Good Magicians

These advertisements screams creativity and it shows us that sometimes, we have to take a step back and look at the humorous side of things.

"Humour is a great vehicle for getting a message across. If you get too serious, you could die of starch." - Cyndi Lauper

References:

70 Creative Advertisements That Make You Look Twice. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/70-creative-advertisements-that-makes-you-look-twice/