While working on a project, at a certain moment, I “see” it. The project unfolds in my head. All of a sudden it is there. And if not, I am in a panic. It means that I still have to understand the scope and spend more time on this.
A teacher at an architecture university, where I learned everything about how not to do architecture, exclaimed at the beginning of the first year that being an architect is unlike being an artist. “Architects”, this stout, bearded man would proclaim, “can never, ever make the excuse that artist use: that today is not a good day. Inspiration is not what drives architects. Architecture is hard work.” How wrong he was. (not about hard work but about inspiration).
I once read that Jan Cremer, the Dutch writer, after having finished his “field work”, retreats and surrounds himself with certain East European pencils, special paper before he starts working on a new book.
Inspiration comes from doing the right amount of preparation and creating the right mood to let the creative juices flow. It is like going on a date: the dinner, the clothes, the wine, the music, the light are all as important as knowing how to please your partner’s various body parts. As we have learned from Casanova all of which is hard work.