Be inspired…be brave…create

Made by Ben English aged 9

Creativity is about being brave, being curious and being inspired. It’s about being curious enough to look for inspiration and being brave enough to go with whatever inspires you and use it to launch your creative project.  It’s about not being too proud to allow yourself to be moved and awed by the stuff out there in the world, be it nature, the work of others, mistakes you make, happy accidents, chance encounters, something you see or hear or whatever. The most creative people can let the world in, they can be inspired.  The most creative people can use the world outside to make something amazing and totally inspired but also totally new.

One of the most creative people I know, is my nine year old nephew Ben English. Ben is creative because he looks for inspiration all the time.  He loves Lego and you can always find him searching for images on the internet for some of the best and most innovative Lego creations. As well as looking for inspiration, Ben has the ability to take something that he sees and instead of making an exact copy of it, he makes it his own, he makes something unique. In August, Ben and I found an image of a Lego Stephen Hawking, we were not sure if it was in good taste, but Ben was inspired by the simple design and the use of Lego to make a wheelchair.  At the weekend, Ben sent me the image of his own Lego creation that was inspired by the Stephen Hawking Lego image we saw.  Ben also made a Lego bird, he was inspired by the bird like feet he found in one of his Lego sets and he made the white Lego bird pictured below.

So be curious, look around, take in, transform, create, make something unique from the world as it inspires you, be like Ben, be nine again!

Made by Ben English aged 9

SPECIAL NOTE: I am very lucky to come from a very creative family and although this blog post is inspired by Ben, I could dedicate a whole blog in itself to creative works of my nieces and nephews and my grandniece too and my brothers and sisters!