I totally  believe that if you want to be creative and have the focus and mind clarity, you must make your surrounding beautiful. What I mean by beautiful is, beautiful to your eyes. From my own experience, I can never work in a messy or ugly environment. It has to beautiufl and neat to my eyes. You don't have to have a lot of money be make things beautiful. You can improvise and create your own things. 

"Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud"
"

Maya Angelou

Sometimes I start painting with a clear idea of what I want my painting to look like. And sometimes I start with a colour and a brush not knowing what it is going to look like.  It changes dramatically as time goes by.  I get inspired by anything and I mean literally anything and everything. Be it bad or good. I believe that everything and every situation in life carrys a messages and has something beautiful. Art is an expression of a message of the artist. It is his/her own lanuguage. I like my art to make people happy. My art is about making people happy.