A Library of Possibilities -Some ideas won’t wait…
Some ideas won’t wait. They appear in the quiet hours, buzzing in your head, insisting you capture them before they disappear. I’ve been doing this since 1988—scribbling, sketching, and collecting fragments in visual diaries. Not everything will become a finished work, but each piece is a seed, waiting patiently for its moment.
David Lynch once said that you should always record your ideas—no matter how small—because if you don’t, they’ll slip away forever. That thought has been etched into my mind for decades. So when I find myself wide awake at 3am, my head alive with images and fragments of possibility, I know I have to get up and write them down before they vanish. actually most of my life, I’ve been keeping visual diaries: books filled with sketches, notes, half-formed concepts and sparks of inspiration. They’ve grown into a lifetime’s collection, far more than I could ever hope to bring into being. But perhaps that’s the point. They are a kind of library of seeds, waiting for the right time to grow into paintings, sculptures, installations, or something unexpected. I believe we can never have too many of these seeds—because it’s from this fertile ground that the future of our work emerges.
Today, I also use notes on my phone and other digital ways to record my ideas. whatever is closest to me at the time though my favourite is still pen, pencil and paper. Maybe you, too, have scraps of paper, old notebooks, or half-formed thoughts tucked away—your own idea fodder, waiting patiently for its moment.
Don’t let ideas slip away
Record every idea—no matter how small—and watch your creativity grow over decades.
Some of my most creative ideas only came about years after I first recorded them. Paintings, sculptures, installations, even unexpected experiments. Capturing ideas is an act of faith: a way of trusting that what seems small today, might one day blossom into something extraordinary.
Thank you for sharing this space with me.
With gratitude,
Jenny Davis