I’ve always loved this Lord Leighton painting Flaming June, dating from 1995. When you see it large on the wall it is just so lush and intimate, it just about takes your breath away.
(I’m the sort of person who can go to the art gallery, wander around for a couple of hours and come out feeling like I’m floating on air, there’s so many endorphins swimming around in my body).
I’m going to reward myself by buying a poster of Flaming June and getting it framed. I almost bought it 10 years ago but felt it was too much of an indulgence.
Here I have to confess that I love beautiful things.I always have. As a child I used to collect beautiful moments so I could take them out and think about them again at a later date. I thought everyone did this.
I found school depressing because the classrooms were so ugly and utilitarian. I grew up in Southport on the Gold Coast. In those days it was fibro beach shacks built on scrubby bushland. I ached for beautiful things.
Here is a link to Dr Alice Boyes, a clinnical psychologist who believes how we feel affects our creativity. She says when we feel positive, we are more creative.
‘In an evolutionary sense, negative emotions like fear are designed to make us focus narrowly on a threat (e.g. is that moving thing a snake?). Positive emotions like feeling happy or upbeat are designed to make us want to explore, try new things, learn new information, and build relationships with other people.’
Which makes sense because to be creative we need to be open and let our mind make those lateral leaps that you just can’t produce by pushing for them. What makes you feel creative?
