How art is created is a mystery each artist must explore in his or her own way, at least since the Romantic concept of the artist as a unique visionary. Prior to that forms were more established and slower to change, whereas today there are infinite possibilities, as artists have access to ideas from all times and places. There do not even seem to be many "movements" like there were even 50 years ago, when artists could be grouped according to shared aesthetic ideas.
Sometimes an artist will find a form that works and then use that to make a series of similar works until the form no longer inspires. Another strategy is to use an old form in a new way. In any event some form is needed, because there can be no art without form, just as nothing that exists in life is formless. At the same time, form alone will not suffice, as it needs to be animated with spirit, like yin and yang.
If there is no form in mind, an artist can just begin with a line — a line drawn on paper, a line of musical notes, a step, or a line of dialogue. And where does a line begin? From a point, one's point of view, or self. Movement. A point moves in some direction to create a line. Then other lines make space, and so three dimensional creation begins: the Big Bang Theory of everything beginning from a single, infinitely small yet infinitely powerful point. In this method, the form evolves with the content, as opposed to starting with a form and imbuing it with content.
Picasso once said that if something doesn't go wrong in making a painting, it won't be any good. The trick is to accept the "mistake" and go with it, for therein lies an opening for the unconscious energy that makes something art and not just craft, although no art can exist without craftsmanship.
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