Should artists wait for inspiration?

Looking at Art:

Have you ever put off doing something that means a lot to you? Jack London, the famous author, said “You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.” One way to create a continuous stream of artwork is to work in a series. Artists often use this strategy, taking a central idea and exploring variations which result in a group of final pieces. Georgia O’Keeffe made a series of one hundred paintings of flowers. She took this traditional subject and abstracted the forms within the flowers, focusing on their center, to come up with totally new interpretations. Works in the flower series are among her most famous paintings.

Work in the Studio:

Fascinated by the forms within the human body, I started a series of sculptures a long time ago which are inspired by the figure moving in space. The series started with a group of large torsos and has morphed into smaller pieces which are more abstract. The early pieces were a stark white and the most recent works are finished with delicate textures and are more colorful. I begin with a shape that is the bottom of the sculpture and build upwards allowing the forms to evolve intuitively. I never get tired of creating these works because variations are seemingly infinite. The following sculpture won the best in 3D award at Art Center Manatee in the “Mind’s Eye” juried exhibition which will be on view until August 6th.

Red Bird, Ceramic Sculpture, 11” x6” x6”