Creativity is what is common in both science and arts. One part of our brain (left brain) is for logic and the other part (right brain) is for music.
Now what is common to both of them? It is creativity, and creativity does not come when you are stressed out, but it comes out of centeredness. The more we are centered the more creativity spontaneously comes out of us.
So, if you are painter, I would suggest to you not to go on looking at other people's paintings. But instead listen to music. This idea may be completely revolutionary because most people who are painters are taught to only study the work of other painters. They are not told to listen to music. But I think that you should stop looking at other painting and listen to music, and then just take your brush and start painting.
When I was in school, I read so many poems written by others. I thought, 'Oh, I wanted to write but someone has already written about this'. So if you are a poet, then stop reading poems written by others. When I stopped reading poems written by others, then I started writing my own poems.
If you want to be a creative cook, then don't go on referring to cook books. You do your own experiments. If you want to be creative in cooking, never ever read any cook book. I think that this really works.
Another thing that is very important for creativity is intuition. You should become hollow and empty, and be centered to be intuitive and creative.
Intuition is also very important for any business man. When you invest based on your intuition then you are successful. For business you need intuition, for politics you need intuition, for creativity you need intuition, for discovery and science you need intuition. And for inttuition what do you need? Meditation!
: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji