Water is the September Prompt for Cloud Gazing Creatives. Water has been the muse of such great artists as David Hockney and J M W Turner, but water influences art and creativity far more deeply than as just a subject. It has been shown that being in or near water can help boost creativity, inspire creative problem solving and help resolve creative block.
” the nature of water is similar to the nature of creativity: it’s ubiquitous, keeps us alive, comes in many forms, has an infinite variety of expression, and its strength can alter the very landscape.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/adventures-in-divergent-thinking/202007/what-water-has-do-your-creativity
An absolutely fabulous article by The Next Big Idea explores the neuroscience of water and creativity with author and marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols. The interviewer asks Nichols about why water might have a creativity boosting effect in comparison to say standing in a forest or walking in a city. His research shows that water gives us a break. Water is simpler visually, simpler aurally and it holds us physically when we are in it. Being beside or in water is quite simply restful, and provides almost the same benefits as meditation i terms of allowing the brain to focus on other concepts. Nichols calls it “Blue Mind”. In the interview, he goes on to talk about how even a shower can provide the same or similar access to that meditative state, which was famously stated by Woody Allen (see our first bog article) A google search netted twelve articles on the first page alone about creativity being found in the shower.
” For people who are extremely distracted and can’t settle down to think about something that needs their attention, just taking themselves to the edge of water can open up the creative process. Artists and musicians have known this for a long time, as have entrepreneurs and scientists.” Wallace J. Nichol
https://nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/conversation-blue-mind-the-neuroscience-behind-waters-creativity-boosting-stress-reducing-effect-on-your-brain/18421/
More than just a way to achieve that creative enlightenment, water can and should be interwoven into our creative practice as often as humanly possible. A wonderful article by The Nature of Cities, explores the connection between art and water in the urban environment.
There are infinite theories about why water holds such depth of meaning and influence in our creative lives, from the meditative effects to the production of dopamine when in the shower or bathing, to the nutritional requirement of the brain to be well hydrated (the brain uses more of our resources every day than almost any other organ) to the ambient noise effect of rain on the creative brain. Regardless of the reason, all of which are well documented and explored, there is just something about being in or near water in any form that has a profound effect on creativity. So go on….get wet!