Start Before You’re Sure
Do You Wait for Inspiration?
Why waiting for the perfect moment isn’t necessary — and how creativity meets you when you start
I had a conversation the other day — the kind that sticks with you. Someone asked me, “Do you wait for inspiration before you create?”
I smiled, because I used to think that’s how it worked. I thought artists sat around waiting for some magical moment — a perfect idea that suddenly appears out of nowhere. Some lightning bolt from the sky, or a quiet whisper that finally says, “Now.”
But the more I’ve created, the more I’ve taught, and the more I’ve shared space with others in our studio, the more I’ve learned: inspiration doesn’t come first. It comes when you begin.
It arrives in the doing — not in the waiting.
It stirs when your hands are busy.
It shows up in the middle of the mess, in the colour that surprises you, in the small moment when you stop thinking and just follow your instinct.
Whether it’s watching alcohol ink flow freely on paper, brushing bold colour across a tile, finding a rhythm in your hands as you fold or stitch — or even just playing with colours until something feels right — something begins to shift the moment you start.
Your hands begin to remember.
Your mind starts to soften.
Your body breathes a little deeper.
And suddenly, you’re not waiting for inspiration anymore — you’re in it.
You don’t need to wait for a spark.
You are the spark.
It stirs when your hands are busy.
It shows up in the middle of the mess, in the colour that surprises you, in the small moment when you stop thinking and just follow your instinct.
Whether it’s watching alcohol ink flow freely on paper, brushing bold colour across a tile, finding a rhythm in your hands as you fold or stitch — or even just playing with colours until something feels right — something begins to shift the moment you start.
Your hands begin to remember.
Your mind starts to soften.
Your body breathes a little deeper.
And suddenly, you’re not waiting for inspiration anymore — you’re in it.
You don’t need to wait for a spark.
You are the spark.
I’ve seen this happen again and again — with absolute beginners who walk in shy and unsure, and with experienced makers who simply needed time and space to reconnect with themselves. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been or how certain you feel. What matters is that moment when you say, “I’ll try.” That quiet agreement between you and the work — whatever it becomes.
And the beauty of what we do is that it doesn’t ask for perfection.
It invites you to show up — as you are.
It welcomes the unexpected. It makes room for surprise.
It teaches you to let go of the outcome and trust the process instead.
That’s where the magic happens.
Not in polished plans or neat results — but in the honest, imperfect, fully present act of making something.
Even if it’s small. Even if it’s slow.
So no — I don’t wait for inspiration anymore.
I find it when I dip the brush.
When I let the ink run.
When I fold, press, or stitch.
When I stop trying to control the outcome, and let the moment lead me somewhere new.
And you can too.
Begin wherever you are. With whatever you have.
Let your hands move. Let colour and space and texture open something up inside you.
You don’t need a plan. You don’t need a reason. You just need a moment of yes.
Inspiration lives in motion.
In you. In us.
It invites you to show up — as you are.
It welcomes the unexpected. It makes room for surprise.
It teaches you to let go of the outcome and trust the process instead.
That’s where the magic happens.
Not in polished plans or neat results — but in the honest, imperfect, fully present act of making something.
Even if it’s small. Even if it’s slow.
So no — I don’t wait for inspiration anymore.
I find it when I dip the brush.
When I let the ink run.
When I fold, press, or stitch.
When I stop trying to control the outcome, and let the moment lead me somewhere new.
And you can too.
Begin wherever you are. With whatever you have.
Let your hands move. Let colour and space and texture open something up inside you.
You don’t need a plan. You don’t need a reason. You just need a moment of yes.
Inspiration lives in motion.
In you. In us.
With ink-stained hands,
Valeriia Kostina
Valeriia Kostina
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Contacts:
1 Frog Lane, Tunbridge Wells, TN1 1YT
1 Frog Lane, Tunbridge Wells, TN1 1YT
Phone: +447902105447
Email: art@kostina.co.uk
Email: art@kostina.co.uk
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Kostina Art
Kostina Art