Having read numerous journals, blogs, and websites across the web over the last week, one thing has stuck me more than any other - the recycling of inspiration. Whether it be Hollywood films rehashing the same generic stories, or Games Workshop failing to come up with a new idea in five years, it seems that inspiration is a bit thin on the ground these days.

Granted there are a lot of good ideas out the - the SHARDS project is a good example - but it still feels that there is a lot of fluff out there which is so utterly contrived and manufactured that it doesn't excite the senses any more.

I read a lot of books, magazines, and web sites trying to conceive new ideas for my projects. The Echtra bride ([link]) was one of them, which in turn flows into one of my meta projects called 'Terria'. Even then I still feel that I am merely cloning elements of popular culture, history, and off beat coolness as I strive to mould it into something of my own.

Is it possible to have a truly original idea in the media obsessed world we live in? I think there are some original ideas (my Sogonia universe may be one of them), but nothing exists in a mental vacuum. I suppose we are all culture-literate, idealite - 1000's of year of popular culture will do that to a species. I regularly plunder ancient myths for inspiration (such as [link]), but I also throw in lots of zany ideas (such as [link]). Ultimately what drives me as an artist seems to be the technical challenge rather than the desire to be original.

At the end of the day I see art as a relative thing for me - I have this creative bug which burns my soul, and I am always writing, mixing music, drawing etc as a way of exorcizing my demons. My muse is a hungry one, and I have this continual urge to create for her. Which is why I think my inspiration is drawn from deep within me, and the widest possible cast net I can find. I love the though of being original, new, fresh - but at the same time I love to plunder the old to make the new.

Maybe I am just a young cynic who just loves to be inspired by the cultures around me? Who knows?

Hugs,

Rachel
-X-

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