I recently read a quote by a friend saying "A lot of negative things happened in my life that I turned into positive, through art. I only had a year's worth of bad things happen to me, so only a year's worth of art came out of it. I'm retired."

While my initial reaction was the chuckle, and think "typical Will", it made me wonder - do we need outside influence in order to be superior artists, or does inspiration come without strings attached?

I find that my most beautiful pictures come at times when I'm happiest - my outlook on life is positive, and therefore I have the drive to create. Of course, it goes without saying that misery drives artists whose outlet is their art. Where would we be without breakup songs and photographs full of heartbreak? But is creativity directly related to influences that may have caused it? And is there a direct correlation in the lengths of time? Is it possible that "a year's worth of bad things" translates into a year's worth of art?