Creativity and Nature

I, for one, am under a genuine belief that you cannot fully separate the concepts of creativity and nature.

If you choose any part of nature, you'll be sure to find something creative about it. Whether it's the colour and design, how it works, or even the fact it just is, it's clear that whatever higher power (or powers, or big bang), put some thought into designing it.

For example, the burn that's a two minute walk from my house (if that), which I'll attach photos of below. There's so much creativity in there (and not just with the small group of Water Elves that live down there - but that's a story for another day). The way the colours merge into each other and the homely feeling it provides bounces around in hundreds of stories in my mind, all stories of fantasy and poems of the natural beauty it provides.

I'm not the only writer who delves into nature either. William Wordsworth, Mary Oliver, and Ralph Waldo Emerson were all poets who wrote about nature, such as Wordsworth's 'Lines written in early Spring', Oliver's 'Wild Geese' and Emerson's 'The Humblebee' are all great examples of how nature inspire creativity.

And it's not just with writing - look at Vincent Van Gogh with his nature paintings. Brilliant and vivid paintings of fields of wheat, sunflowers and almond blossoms (the latter of which, he painted when he was committed to a hospital when he was very much struggling with his mental health, but had a patch of light when he heard that his brother Theo and his wife had their first child). The vast beauty of nature gave us a lot of the greatest paintings by one of the greatest artists of all time (and one of my favourite Doctor Who episodes). And it wasn't just Van Gogh. Claude Monet and Henri Rousseau among many others all painted beautiful paintings of nature, from still rivers to busy jungles.

Even music can be inspired by nature, such as 'Take me home, country Roads' by John Denver, 'Green, green grass' by George Ezra, 'Here comes the sun' by The Beatles, and 'Mr. Blue Sky' by E.L.O , to name a few (all of which I'd highly recommend). There's always something calming about songs like these .

All together, nature seems to show up in every form of creativity, whether we like it or not. This isn't a bad thing though - we as a species take inspiration from everything around us, from nature, to romance, to other people. The only limit we have is ourselves. And the fact we're able to perfectly portray the beauty around us reflects our skills as a creative species as it does nature's skill at being beautiful. There's so much beauty in the world and I'm so glad that our species (as well as many other species, such as the Water Elves) have the ability and option to share it. I feel like we spend so much time focusing on work and money that we forget how beautiful sunsets and animals are. Sometimes it's nice to wake up and take in the world around us.

Burn Photos