I don't know about your process as an artist, but mine seems to be this:  I see something that puts a tiny little idea into a tiny little pot a-waaaay back on the stove of my creative brain.  Then a song on the radio may give me an idea which goes into that same tiny little pot, which is now starting to warm.  Next, I may have a minute as I wait for an appointment - or a red light to turn green - and I suddenly just HAVE to grab pen or pencil and jot or draw another ingredient for that tiny little pot...which is now starting to simmer.  There's no time frame on when this pot of ideas will actually boil into a clearer gist of what I want to create on my next canvas...like any process, it takes as much time as it takes.  Sometimes a few moments, sometimes several months, but most of these little pots of ideas do eventually boil into a great idea.  That's when the fun really starts!
    And if your process is anything like mine you may find, too, that great ideas somehow manage to take on a life and direction of their own once we sit down and bring them from the little pot out onto our canvas, work table, kiln, etc.
    Art.  Process.  Life.
    Welcome to mine.  I hope you enjoy my sharing.