How do we come up with NEW ideas? Where do we get our inspiration?

I had another pottery/design related dream the other night. Many of my ideas (good and BAD) seem to come to me in this way. Sounds sort of “Hand of God ish” (but if you know me, that is not it at all, it’s just random neurons firing). These “dreams” usually come around the time that my mind finally starts to drift off into unconsciousness, but before I fall completely down the rabbit hole, I will get a flash out of nowhere, usually an image, of a new way to possibly approach a problem I have been mulling over in the very deep dark recesses of my mind, or even just something completely new that I have not even been considering. I am not one for sketching, never have been, so sometimes these ideas get lost for a couple of days until my brain unearths them again. I do try to sketch them occasionally, but I can never seem to get down in 2D what my inner eye clearly sees in 3D. Anyway, back to the dream the other night. My sister asked me a while ago if I would make the centre pieces for her wedding next year, and being the best big sister in the world, I said sure, no problem, what do you want? She wants a simple single stem vase out of white white white porcelain, approximately 9 or so inches high. Not being one to do things the easy way, I don’t want to just extrude hollow cylinders and glaze them clear....how boring. I got her to accept a little blue (not much), and perhaps a little lustre. My vision was that of a very narrow cylinder, maybe 2 inches wide, 9 inches tall, thrown without a base, and perhaps a little wonky (not dead straight). The base of the vase will be a circular slab slightly wider than the cylinder. The top is a thrown, shallow domed cap with a narrow neck just wide enough for a single flower stem. I will attempt to make a few variations for her to have a look at and make her decision.
I have had a few of these dreams, and they don’t always work out, but the ideas linger and will sometimes morph into something completely different once I get to the studio and start trying to flesh it out in clay.
I often wonder how different artists get fresh ideas for their work. I am lazy, and I don’t like doing the boring stuff like research (I do surf the web, but that is pretty passive research, and can be done when you don’t want to do something even more tedious, like laundry or dishes). Some authors say that they feel like they are just a conduit for a “higher power” that is writing through them. That sounds to me like they have no talent except for typing, I think that is a lame answer. But how does everyone else create something completely new from nothing? I guess my work is pretty internal, I don’t seek a lot of outside inspiration for what I do (unless I am ripping something off that I saw on YouTube for a pottery demo).

Sometimes I just want to look at pretty pictures

I have been slowly developing a reading list of blogs. I enjoy starting my day by logging onto Google Reader and perusing the daily posts. Some bloggers put something out into the bloggosphere at least once a day, if not more, and others are more measured if not sporadic in their blogging, only disseminating their thoughts once a week or longer in between posts. Lately, there seems to be a recurring theme, sparked by a post discussing the severe lack of deep thinking and pith in the pottery blog world. This author felt (forgive me if I miss interpret this) that there were way too many people out there just posting about what they ate for breakfast, saw in a magazine, how many birds were on their window sill while throwing etc...and not enough critical writing going on.

What do I think about this? Well, sometimes I just want to look at pretty pictures, imagine what it would be like to live in another city, town or country and be exposed to totally different pottery cultures, or just get a little glimpse into the lives of other potters. I am sure that my blog weighs in a little on the light side of things, but I do try to keep my posts somewhat related to my life in the studio. I always feel a bit hesitant when putting my thoughts out there. I don't know if anyone actually reads this or cares about what I have to say, but I as I am exposed to the pottery community face to face on a weekly basis (teaching students and working at the only local pottery supply store in town) I don't want to tick anyone off and jeopardize my and my employers reputation. So, if you want deep thoughts, I might not be the blog for u, but if u want impromptu posts that may include the odd pretty picture, then u have come to the right spot.