The definition of imagination is the ability to come up with mental images of something that is not real or to come up with new and creative ideas. When a child is playing house and creates a pretend story, this is an example of a child using his imagination.

The truth is, abstract art is not “about nothing”. At its basis, it is about form, color, line, texture, pattern, composition and process. These are the formal qualities of artwork, because they describe what the art looks like and how it is created. Abstract art is an exploration of these formal qualities.

It means creating something from scratch, based on what you visualize in your mind. Additionally, painting from imagination would require the artist to have very sharp observational skills.

No. Without imagination, our ability to blend ideas, to see things not as they are but as they might be, is greatly hindered. If we cannot imagine new possibilities, our ability to think creatively is limited. To improve our imagination we must look to the source of our perceptions: our knowledge.

Einstein famously said: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

When visualising information, imagine yourself interacting with the object or place. Engage your senses to gather what it would feel, smell or taste like. Not everyone is born with an excellent memory, but anyone can use their imagination to train their brain to recall more information.

Here are some tips that will help you jump-start your imagination muscles.

1. CHANGE YOUR SELF-PERCEPTION. Are you walking around thinking you’re not imaginative?
2. OBSERVE. For actors, writers, and artists, observing is second nature.
3. ACCESS CHILDHOOD MEMORIES.
4. OPEN TO POSSIBILITY.
5. BE CURIOUS.
6. BE PLAYFUL.
7. SPEND TIME IN NATURE.

Here are 10 ways to develop your imagination.

1. Read. Reading is too often associated with “book learning,” which is often boring, irrelevant, and worse, required.
2. Daydream.
3. Socialize.
4. Assist.
5. Play.
6. Ask.
7. Create.
8. Share.

Creative Subjects Think about paper cutting, origami, sewing, drawing, modelling, DT, art, dance, drama. These are aspects of a creative curriculum that will engage imagination in children. With creative activities, you can also improve fine motor skills and concentration.

Imagination is your brain trying to make sense of the world. You gain more knowledge over time, so you “lose” imagination.

Memory decline in old age may also mean a less vivid imagination. Old age does more than stealthily steal away our most cherished memories: it also seems to diminish our ability to imagine things.

You don’t lose your imagination. It simply becomes less socially acceptable to pretend-play based on your imagination as you get older. Once you age past childhood, we call imagination “creativity”.

New research by UC Berkeley psychologists suggests that creativity generally tends to decline as we age. Through a series of experiments, it was found that adults resorted to less creative thought processes than children.

Creative activity aims to do something purposeful. The imagination is something that emerges. While creativity works towards products that exist in the real world and have real-world purpose, the product of the imagination is the “imagined object”; it is the image itself.

First, the precise relation between age and creativity depends on the domain. Some creative types—such as lyrical poets and mathematicians—tend to have early peaks and relatively rapid declines, whereas others—among them, historians and philosophers—are prone to later peaks and gradual, even negligible declines.