3 Unexpected Places to Find Your Inspiration and Unleash Creativity

Have you ever marveled at a Renaissance painting or found yourself swept away in a Puccini aria? Where do the great masters find inspiration?

Artists have a long history of drawing inspiration from the elegance around them. Literature, music, nature, even other people can spark the creative impulse that flames into artistic rhapsody. If you take a moment to pause and savor life, you, too, can access the great, deep well of creative energy that inspired the masters. Find inspiration in these four unexpected places.

1. Personal Treasures

Surround yourself with elegant artifacts and you'll find inspiration in what used to be everyday things. If you've been wanting to write, a handmade artisanal journal can be your treasure chest of new ideas. Opening a soft, intimate object puts you in the right state of mind to begin creating while connecting you to the person whose own hands crafted it. When your life is rich with beauty, your passions have a place to thrive.

2. Your Environment

If you live in a bland world of hard angles and clean lines your only inspiration might be to reprogram the remote. When Da Vinci was growing into a master artist, he woke up every day to the sights and sounds of Tuscany. What do you wake up to every day? Maybe you can't quite get to Tuscany, but you can create a space that is your own personal muse. Make your home a place that nurtures your young creative soul.

3. Our Vibrant World

Nothing wakes up your creativity like a trip to a new place. What inspires you? If you've always loved great food and wine, maybe now is the time to take that trip to Florence. If your muse awaits you at the top of an exotic peak, grab your gear and get going. Life is your chance to live. Even the most well-traveled cosmopolitan still has a new fragrance to bathe in, a new language to taste, and a new city to touch. When your routine becomes too routine and you feel stuck, you can breathe creativity into your soul again in small and big ways. Simply exchange one of your functional daily objects for an elegant work of art so that your day is filled with inspiration. Or take a bold step and discover a whole new world within our world. Your muse awaits.