I’ve spent the last 8 years living inland. Not so inland that I couldn’t get to the waterside if I drove an hour, but not close. I couldn’t see it, I couldn’t smell it, or sense it. I’m in a transitional faze at the moment, and I’m having a ‘sea change’. An over rated term I know, but it fits for my current predicament. In approximately six weeks my husband and I will don backpacks and go feral globally. Until such time, we are house sitting 10 minuets from the beach, back in my home town, and I feel a resurgence of creativity. It begs the question, does your geographical position enhance or diminish your creativity?
Photo below- Ocean Grove, Victoria, Australia (photograph Clare Simons Kelly)
Granted, the image above was taken back in February, unlike today’s 5 degree non stop raining, but even in this inclement weather, there is still such wild beauty along Australian’s coast line. I defy anyone not get even the slightest bit of inspiration from such a view. Wide open space, white surf, blue soaring sky’s. The sense of personal space, physically and mentally, it is exhilarating. Even in this gloomier of days I still feel embraced by the spirit of the creative.
So does your surroundings, make you more or less creative? I guess I can’t answer for you, but for me, it does. I feel more at ease with life on the coast, on the edge of the land, and being in Australia there is a lot of beach and coast line to source inspiration from. There is something about water meeting land, about sand between your toes and sunsets over vast every lasting oceans.
Image below- Geelong Eastern Beach, Victoria, Australia (Photograph Clare Simons Kelly)
I feel less anxious. I feel more in tune with life and nature, I mean it could all be wank, but all I know is I feel better by the seaside! To get inspired try getting in the car, regardless of the weather and drive. Drive to the edge and just look at the edge of the world with fresh eyes. There are so many shades of blue in the sky and ocean, so many textures and shapes I bet you’ve never even focused.
Photo Below- Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia (photograph by Clare Simons Kelly)
Now, if you are by the edge of the “earth” do the opposite! GET OUT! Get on the train or in the car and move inside the land. Get amongst the prowls and the sky high buildings. Smell the coffee, walk the damp streets, sit in the cafe’s and watch the people go by at a rate of knots. I suggest getting to Melbourne if you near by and getting lost in the many cafes and bars, all over the city, BUT the BEST places are just outside the CBD. Get to Fitzroy, Brunswick, North Melbourne, Coburg to find a hub of artists drowning themselves in coffee, conversation and sangria. You’ll find dark and comfortable booths in what use to be churches of fabric showrooms, or green grocers. I spent 5 of the last 8 years exploring these haunts and I could have spent another 5 happily.
Image below- Somewhere in Northcote at the “Wesley Anne” (photograph by Clare Simons Kelly)
BUT, the opportunity has arisen to live on the edge of the “earth” again for a time, and I can’t explain how my blood is re-energized with creative juice! So in conclusion, it may not be ‘where’ you are geographically, it may be ‘when’ you get there. I know I loved my life in Melbourne, and felt an intense creativity for years, but the change to the coast seems to have re-started me. I think with hindsight staying anywhere for too long will eat away at your spirit and leave you stagnant, its the change, the new or the familiarity of the old which gives you the go. I’d challenge you to make changes for the sake of your creative soul, let yourself go to the edge of the earth or the crowds of the city or the country town in between and enjoy the creative buzz you get.
Image below- The top of Mt Osborn, Wilsons Promontory, Victoria, Australia. (Photograph- Clare Simons Kelly)
More soon!
Xoxo
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