When you’ve been regularly exploring your creativity for a while – and in particular for the purposes of this post, your artist self – you start to see the world as one big palette of inspiration.
mixing your media :: the fabric of a friend’s skirt I borrowed to photograph: i loved the colour combination, the stitching, the texture and the irregular pattern. these are all aspects I can use in painting, although not necessarily all at once.
The strangest things start to give you ideas for paintings or colour combinations to try, or things to try making yourself, perhaps with your own unique spin. I thought I’d share some that I’ve picked up along the way.
finding images in abstraction :: when I was travelling round New Zealand I spent a lot of time on buses with various patterned fabrics in front of me on the backs of seats. can you see the mermaid in this image? I thought it would make the basis of a great abstract.
I haven’t necessarily used them all {yet}, but I capture everything I see with my phone camera and store it in a file on my computer called {very imaginatively} ‘Inspiration’ for possible later use.
Periodically I’ll go back into this folder, especially if I’ve suddenly remembered an image I have and want to use it, or if I’m a bit low on inspiration and need a little nudge.
art in the kitchen :: You know me and circles…bubbles in the bottom of a saucepan of boiling water. I tinted it blue in Picmonkey.
The beauty of this approach is that not only do you always have a ready bank of ideas to hand, but with everything you notice you are honing your creative skills by seeing the world through this filter of ‘how can I use this?’. Plus it’s fun, so you know, wins all round.
neglect can be beautiful :: this is the burnt and bubbled door of a beach hut on the seafront where I live. Amazing potential for transferring to a painting here I think.
I don’t know if this is a ‘normal’ way to see the world; if it isn’t for you then I hope it’ll give you inspiration to look with fresh eyes on the world around you!
And of course it doesn’t just have to be about painting.
Ideas for anything can come from anywhere, if you keep your eyes open and your mind curious.
If you’re a painter, or indeed an artist/creator of any kind, what strange places have you found inspiration for your work? I’d love to know!
Thank you for this inspiring article, Tara.
Hmmm…sometimes I take photos of the surface patterns themix of foamed milk and my coffee create. 🙂 Also, for a while already, tree barks are quite fascinating to me, colour-, pattern- and texture-wise. Even got a pinterest board for tree barks. Just an hour ago, I took a photo of the colour combination of my yellow salad bowl filled with tomatoes, feta cheese in a dark balsamico dressing.
Best, Nic 🙂
Yes the kitchen can be an unexpectedly abundant source of inspiration! Love that you have found so much from tree bark, and a Pinterest board is a great way to gather it all in one place.
Hi Tara,
Great post!
I’ve just posted about my June altar, where the Inner Peace painting has pride of place 🙂
http://anotherdeepday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/more-thoughts.html
Claire I’m so glad it arrived safely and you’re happy with it! I love that you’ve made it part of your altar – fantastic intention setting! 🙂
Thanks Tara for sharing your inspiration.
And yes, it’s everywhere. A poster in a busstation, the old door of my brothers barn (looks like a real painting!), rain on my sunshade fabric, moss on a wall, etc.,etc.
Do you like to see the images? Pinterest Florenel will show you the pictures(board ideeën).
Thanks for reading this.
Nel
Hi Nel, thanks for stopping by! I agree, inspiration is everywhere once you know how to look!
So intresting Just I dont know how to get on…
Hope you see this post. Its now June 2019! I used to do art quilts but stopped for some years now and taken up watercolor. I was once driving along a local road observing the clouds and literally “out of the blue” came the concept of The Princess and the Pea with all the layers of mattresses. Because it was the holiday time my mind instantly went to The Princess and the Dreidel(Hanukah) so I did it up as a quilt with a little story I made up! I think about doing it up as a watercolor.
Love that story of connecting unlikely things Eileen!
Love this. My choices of what to shoot look sometimes odd to others, as folks without paint at home see no point in taking pics of dead trees, faded decking, or wave patterns on water. I love rust…the colors naturally emerge, creating uninhibited abstracts.
There really is inspiration everywhere, hiding in plain sight! Thanks for sharing what inspires you Ann. 🙂