Inspiration is a funny thing. It comes in inconsistent waves that crash unexpectedly and push a person’s thoughts into beautiful places.

When it comes to artists, the craving of inspiration just never seems to disappear and they can vary for each individual. For many artists these waves follow through to their daily lives, and shape creative practices. As is the case for many of Calgary’s artists, inspiration is what shapes their creative process when it comes to developing personal artwork. 

A pause into whatever creative practice is being done, photography, illustration, painting, tattooing, print making, most often serves as a thoughtful reflective moment. 

For Destiny Dewayo, a Calgary based multimedia artist, inspiration is something that they cherish. Over their years of creative experience, Dewayo has learned where the most influential practices originate from. Finding material that sparks creativity is something they have learned to find, rather than waiting around in moments.

“My practice at its core is driven by a flow of consciousness meant to mimic my daily thoughts, feelings, and curiosities,” said Dewayo.

Working through a series of art styles that include, collage, decolatage, painting, textile creation, embroidery, print, illustration and sculpture, Dewayo focuses their creativity on their current free mentality float. Rather than seeing art as a solid fixed concept, Dewayo naturally builds their ideas creating thoughtful art developed from personal emotions and experiences, making it so much more meaningful. 

“An outside eye can be very valuable and some of the best elements in my work have come by way of suggestions and observations of other artists,” said Dewayo

Dewayo’s process allows them to sit and analyze their art, rather than pushing unnatural ideas to appear. They value the opinion of others and often ask for feedback and other perspectives. This method plays an important role for Dewayo’s art, and plays a role within inspiration itself.

Inspiration is only the first step to lengths of artistic creations, everything starts with a small and simple idea. Eventually those ideas are able to blossom and become something worth sharing. 

Once an artist finds a preferred method, it is important to stick with it and let it grow into a personal style. 

Conversely for floral and ornamental tattoo artist Youngli You, inspiration follows her everywhere. Nature seems to always spark interest for many people, but specifically You find. She finds her inspiration through flowers and memories. Since visiting Vancouver and Korea she yearns to find beautiful illustrations throughout every botanical environment. 

“Anywhere that has flowers, I can’t walk past it without taking pictures of flowers or plants that catch my eyes,” said You. 

You expressed that creativity can be challenging, but that it should not be intimidating. Instead of dropping everything and failing to finish a piece, this artist advises to turn that frustration into something beneficial. 

“Whenever I hit a wall, I drop everything and go for a short or long walk with my dogs to clear my mind,” said You. 

“Sometimes if I feel really stuck, I take the whole day off and do a deep clean around the house to take my mind off of drawing.”

Inspiration truly is all around, it follows through memories, steps, nature, and practices done everyday. For these artists it’s not always easy to come across, but with the correct mindset and a forever passion of creativity, becoming inspired is an easy skill to achieve. With inspiration, art becomes a practice that shows a reflection of not only the artist but also the world itself.