Posts in Category: Art Inspiration
Inspiring Your Art: Spring
It’s officially Spring! The weather seems to be warming up, the robins are back and the flowers are finally starting to appear. We’ll ignore for a moment that it’s supposed to snow here tomorrow… In celebration of the season, I’d like you to consider this image of spring crocuses as your art inspiration for this week. These guys are currently happily blooming in my garden, which is a welcome pop of color after the cold, dreary winter.
I like crocuses. They’re one of the first flowers to brave the early spring and its unpredictable weather. They’re colorful and cheerful, like a ray of hope! They also kind of signify to me the rebirth of spring, inexorably working their way up through the dark, frozen ground.
What signifies spring for you? Is it the first flowers? The return of the robins (if you live in the north, anyway!)? Or is it something else? How do you celebrate Spring with your art?
Inspiring Your Art: Broken
“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places” –Ernest Hemingway
This week I’d like you to consider this quote by Ernest Hemingway, from “A Call to Arms.” I’ve always liked this quote—it really resonates with me. But I confess I’ve never really considered using it as inspiration for my art. So I thought I’d change that!
Aside from personal struggles, this quote brings to mind Kintsugi, which is a Japanese method of pottery repair that uses gold to accentuate the broken edges of the repair. This technique has its roots in the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, which emphasizes seeing the beauty in the flawed or imperfect. I’ve always liked that philosophy too. It kind of cries out “Look at me! I was broken, but I fixed myself! And I’m even better than before!”
So my goal right now is to take this quote and create a piece of art based on it. I’ll share the piece when I’m done and I invite you to do the same!
Inspiring Your Art: Green
Looking out the window today, I’m seeing a lot of white. It’s not surprising that there’s snow on the ground; it Is winter, after all. It’s pretty cold today, too. At this point in the season, I’m more than ready for spring! With that in mind, let’s pretend that winter’s almost over and spring is just around the corner.
To help get ourselves into the mindset of spring, I’d like you to consider the color green as inspiration for your art this week. Green can be warm, spring days and tiny green plant shoots starting to sprout out of the ground. Green can be wide, grassy lawns (or not, since they need to be mowed regularly. I don’t really mind yard work, but some of my friends certainly do!). Or that magical point when the trees all suddenly get all their leaves. It’s like a spring leaf explosion!
Green can also represent emotions. We’ve all heard the term ‘green with envy.’ Though I have to admit, envy isn’t really something I think of when I consider the color green. Green feels more calm and soothing to me. Though undoubtedly, the shade of green can also impact what it means. A bright, grass green feels far different from a muddy, murky, pond scum sort of green.
I don’t typically make a lot of artwork that is green, though I do frequently use it as a background color in my torn paper collage pieces. Of course, another take on ‘green’ could be the use of repurposed or recycled/upcycled materials. In that sense, my torn paper collages are all green!
What does green represent to you? Is it a time? A place or person? A specific emotion? How do you use green in your art?
Inspiring Your Art: Ocean
“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean, in a drop.” – Rumi
I wanted to go with a water-themed quote for inspiration this week. I enjoy watching the ocean and miss living near the coast. This quote also speaks of the connection between the individual and a much greater whole. I think that sometimes we can get so tied up in all the many urgent details in our lives that we forget to take a step back and put everything into perspective.
I think, as artists, it’s important to remember the connection between ourselves and the ‘outside’ world. I know I find much of my inspiration in nature. And when I don’t spend time outside, it impacts not only my motivation to create art, but also my overall productivity and mood.
Where do you find your inspiration? Do you have a favorite place you go to recharge? What does this quote mean to you?
Inspiring Your Art: Sunshine
It’s that time of year when winter really starts to set in and I find myself missing warmer, sunny weather. So I think it’s time to remind ourselves, especially if you live in an area that gets cold in the winter!, that it’s not all cold, snowy days or struggling with icy roads.
I ran across this image and I thought it would make a good focus for inspiration. I like the warm sunny feel of the photo, and oceans are always a favorite of mine. And coincidentally, it’s also Valentine’s Day, so the heart-shaped wave seems appropriate.
I’d like you to consider how you can incorporate “sunshine” into your artwork. Is it through color? What is the texture of sunshine? Can you evoke that somehow? What does “sunshine” mean to you?
Inspiring Your Art: Dreaming
“What would an ocean be
without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams.”
― Werner Herzog
I like this quote. It’s not your typical “dream” quote. You know the type—“Follow your dreams” or “You can accomplish anything you dream of.” And those are perfectly fine. But today I’d like you to explore the darker side of dreaming. The dreams where you wake up with your heart racing, or the ones where you’re just totally creeped out and there’s No Way you’re getting back to sleep.
I find those types of dreams are the ones that stick with me long after I wake. And really, they’re probably the ones that I most need to learn something from. Figuring out what my subconscious is trying to tell me, however… That’s the challenge!
With this quote, I like the imagery of the sea monster hiding deep in the depths of the ocean, waiting to ambush the unwary traveler. Or perhaps, the unwary dreamer!
What does this quote bring to mind for you? Do you have any recurring dreams? Is any of your artwork inspired by your dreams?
Inspiring Your Art: Wood
Today I’d like you to think about wood as an inspiration for your artwork. There are many facets of “wood” that you can explore: the colors or the textures, how the bark differs from the inner wood. What about wood as a material? It can be cut into pieces and assembled as a mosaic or carved into a sculpture or even used as a substrate, like in wood panel paintings. It can be painted or you can make use of its natural colors and patterns.
I often use natural materials like wood in my abstract, sculptural “paintings.” It can help to provide depth and structure as well as texture or even color. I like to use texture in my artwork, and wood has so many possibilities!
As a fun challenge, I’d like you to choose an aspect of wood and see how you can work that into your art. Will you work with the colors? The textures? Are you going to modify it in some way? Perhaps a series of pieces, each focused on a different aspect of wood? How about contrasting the wood with another material?
What will you choose? I’d love to see what you come up with. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
Inspiring Your Art: Parties and Celebrations
With the ending of the old year and the start of a new one, this time of year brings to mind both reflections on what I’ve experienced over the last year and anticipation for what is to come. Some years are better than others, but they all have both good and bad times; that’s just life. Though I don’t typically make any New Year’s resolutions, there’s still some appeal in the idea of starting over with a clean slate.
The other thing the New Year brings to mind is celebrations! I’ve lived in Scotland a couple times and if there’s one place to go for New Year’s celebrations, it’s there. The last day of the year is called Hogmanay and its origins reach back to the Viking celebrations of the winter solstice in the 8th and 9th centuries. If anything, it’s a bigger deal than even Christmas. There are a number of older customs related to Hogmanay, including visiting neighbors and relatives and the giving of gifts, but modern celebrations also typically include large parties and fireworks. Another Hogmanay custom is singing “Auld Lang Syne,” which was written by the famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns. This custom has since made its way to many other countries, including America.
So, what are you celebrating with the turn of the year? Your successes of the last year? Surviving the trials you encountered? Or perhaps the opportunity to start again? I wish you all a happy, healthy new year!
Inspiring Your Art: Christmas
“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime.”
―Laura Ingalls Wilder
This quote reminds me of the excitement and anticipation that always went along with Christmas when I was a child. The joy of playing in the snow and seeing all the lights and decorations on all the houses. The evergreen scent of the Christmas tree.
When I was a kid, we did have a real tree for many years, before we purchased an artificial one. There are a lot of fun (funny?) memories that go along with those real trees. I remember once we had made a catnip mouse as a present for our cat and placed it, wrapped, under the tree. Well, he quickly found that present and batted it right into water in the Christmas tree stand, soaking the toy and turning the wrapping paper into a soggy mush. Another year, our Christmas tree lost all its needles the week before Christmas! My uncle stopped by on his way home from college and helped us haul it out to the trash. I think we got our artificial tree the next year!
As an artist, it is important to remember to play. To take notice of and joy in the simple things that often get overlooked in the rush to meet all our daily obligations. Reclaiming that child-like spirit of wonder helps promote creativity, which can only improve both our artwork and our overall outlook on life.
How do you ‘play’ with your art? Are there special techniques you try or subjects you choose? Have you tried a new method or medium?
Inspiring Your Art: Winter
With December popping up seemingly from out of nowhere and winter on its way, I decided that a little wintery inspiration was in order!
Too often I get focused on the hassles and inconveniences of winter. This photo reminds me of the beauty that can be found in this season. It reminds me of snow coated trees and frost patterns on windows. The red berries remind me of the cardinals I sometimes see at my bird feeder.
What does this photo remind you of? Is there something that says ‘winter’ to you?