How is travel an inspiration to artists

Truth be told,

I did not paint for many years, although I had developed the knowledge of interest as a child.

It was as though something in me had died,

Not many people follow their passion, but everyone can if they are being encouraged and for some, it could be just an ‘instinct’ hitting them out of the blue.

Its simple, Painters need ‘inspiration’, and to be inspired one has to be impressed with what they see or sense.

More often than not, I find myself stranded in front of the canvas in a state of destitute, yearning for creation. Now you may think, it is because I have not been motivated by the world around me. Well, this is not true, a painting can have different shades of each color, or plain black and white, different techniques, but  the one thing that does not change is its ‘meaning’ – the story of the painting. In short, a painter can create his canvas conveying a story meticulously in a single page, just like  a novel, but with a number of pages from 600 or 4000 words. I mean to say, an author pens down his ideas in his books through his experiences maybe about people he comes across, about places he visits, and even in the case of his fictional books, he derives a concept from either of the above. And a painter excels in his work if he has the potential to ‘hypothetically exaggerate’ a silhouette on his mind and it is for this reason, I feel ,having a eye for minuscule observations can help stir the creative side in you.

Travel has inspired artists for centuries and that comes with no doubt. It was not that long ago,until the feeling of wanderlust infected me, I understood that each country has its own sense of style such as the American paintings that are based on true events around the world, is a great cultural contribution to the world of art, Indian paintings such ad tanjore keep its boundaries within the Indian tradition which I absolutely adore. Nevertheless, we all know some of the best paintings comes from European artists whether it is the French or the Italians.

A few things that I like about European artisans, is the open-mindedness of the aspiring artists and the sincerity towards their craftsmanship. On my visit to the Europe, I came across some phenomenal works :

a) the street painting in the form of graffiti in Paris,

b) pavement artists in Italy or the chalk artists in Florence( on a street called orsanmichele) where an artist chalk  the famous painting ‘Girl with pearl earrings’ originaly painted by a Dutch Johannes Vermeer

c) the intricate  detailing chiseled in each sculpture including Michelangelo’s David 

d) painted ceilings(frescoes) in Sistine chapel decorated by Michelangelo, and the frescoes of Raphel rooms (Stanze di Raffaello) by Raphel in the Vatican Museum, Rome

The next day, I was flushed with a stream of  creative views, driving the feel of breakthrough to massacre my canvas and no Im not exaggerating.

Vatican Museum, Vatican City, Rome, Italy,

Although i did not get a chance to literally carry my paints and supplies on my travel, this is something I wish to do at some point, because i truly believe it can help ‘technically’ in drawing a subject, understanding the importance of color, value and its tone. At the end of this all, I’m sure it is  going to be a worth- while painting composed  with emotions. I would not mind this technique of self – learning nor would I mind capturing all the images  of the journey on my mind and make belive those stories on my canvas once I reach home.

Likewise, hadn’t I traveled and cherished art at the same time, I wouldn’t be here to tell you the tale  🙂