Nature influences creativity by igniting the imagination and calming the mind. It is both stimulating and relaxing at the same time. When the mind is relaxed, creativity has room to generate and grow.
Nature offers an endless display of colors and textures, sounds and sensations. Yet, unlike other forms of sensory overload, nature does not overwhelm. It soothes. The possibilities for creating something artistic after time spent in nature are endless! How can it not influence and inspire artistic expression?
Nature has inspired art for thousands of years. Early evidence of this is seen in cave paintings. Throughout human history, nature has been an inspiration for paintings, music, poetry … and served as a source of creativity for some of the world’s greatest artists.
There are far too many art forms and far too many products of nature inspiration to name, but some of the widely known examples that come to mind include Claude Monet’s painting, Water Lilies, Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” and Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”
Monet’s paintings of water lilies (it is a series) are housed in a gallery in France. He painted them in the last decades of his life from observations of a pond in his garden. It is said Monet had a deep connection to nature. It certainly shows in his paintings!
Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” in which sounds of nature are represented by various instruments, is genius! Among the sounds displayed by these amazing concertos are bird songs, thunderstorms, rain, ice cracking, and so much more. I’ve heard this performed live, and it was moving.
For poetry, I think of Robert Frost. His poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is a favorite of mine, about the woods during wintertime. The woods are my favorite place, and I adore snowshoeing at night. “Between the woods and frozen lake / The darkest evening of the year.” I can imagine myself in the woods on a winter night.
I’ve written my own nature poetry. In fact, one was loosely fashioned after Frost’s snowy evening poem, except I placed it during autumn.
Autumn Woods
The woods I walked were not my own, the trees reside outside my town.
They live afar, the other side but welcomed me to enter, bide.
As my boots trod on browning grass, And careful on the underpass.
A path for deer and fox and mole, under the trees’ umbrella gold.
The woods – so lovely, dim and vast beckoned me in and time did pass.
Until I realized — the lights outside the woods grew dim with night.
And skies grew darker, darker still. I turned around to climb the hill.
Back to my home where stew was there, and table set and wooden chair.
But in the woods my mind did stay, to dream of things I’d seen that day.
When I’m outside and feel inspired to write poetry, I often engage in live writing to capture the images, colors, movement, of what I see with more precision. I’ve got a decent memory and can envision things in my mind, but writing about my subject in real time produces the best outcome.
Here’s another example of a poem I wrote about nature. I used live writing to describe the trees after leaves had fallen, what certain birds sounded like, the sounds, the feel of nature during autumn. I’m not finished with it, I don’t think. It still feels a bit off to me, but it serves as an example of how nature inspires art.
Nature During Autumn
When the woods were undressed, with the sun hanging low,
The birds had no nest and the cool air ablow,
At the end of the day, high on hill in the trees,
Was the squawk of a jay and the brush of a breeze.
“Tap-tap-tap” downy bird, as you perch high above,
Did I hear nuthatch word? And the coo of a dove?
With a crunch underneath, my tall boots on the way,
Of a leaf covered ground in the autumn decay.
Nature told me a truth as I trod on the earth,
And she hinted at things understood by the birds.
My artistic expression is mainly through writing. I have dabbled in song lyrics and have done an occasional watercolor painting outside. I’ll be the first to admit I am a terrible painter. I’m not being insulting about myself, it’s a simple truth. I. Can’t. Paint.
I’m also inspired by nature photography. Another form of art. While I am no expert here, either, I do enjoy taking photographs of nature and studying them. In fact, one of my favorites is a picture of some slimy stuff in a river. I shot a photo because I was intrigued by the design, the swirls, the beauty of something that was, well, a bit dirty.
It reminds me a little of a Vincent van Gogh painting. Can you see it? (Maybe it’s just me …)
Nature. Creativity. Art. It’s all intertwined and right outside our doors. Nature will never run out of things to inspire a creative mind. It will never fail to offer imaginings and serve as, perhaps, the best muse of the artist. If you hold no interest in creating art, engage in the natural environment for other creative reasons. Business requires problem-solving (a creative process), parenting takes great imagination, and teaching greatly benefits from creativity. Nature relaxes the mind, which sparks creativity, which makes life more interesting and more beautiful.
Thank you, nature! And thank you to all the artists who have harnessed nature’s gifts to produce wonderful works of art!
