The Start of Something Bigger

I found inspiration today. So, why does it take so long to realize that what you've been looking for has been here all along?
I took a photography class this past month. Find Your Eye with Kat Sloma. Not only did I learn about my camera - the biggie was that I began to find my eye, my style.
I went on a photo walk this morning to capture the sun on the newly fallen snow. So... what did I photo? The same stuff I always photo.. trees, plants, just nature in general. I have scads of photos of the same stuff.
This is where Kat's class comes in... when I look at all these photos I have taken over the past year they pretty much have the same common thread. Line, color and texture - specifically based in nature. OK, I recognize this... time to embrace it and stop searching for something else. Seems like I keep trying to paint something that isn't me. And, yes... I'm not happy with it in the end.
Today I came across Bridgette Guerzon Mills. I actually discovered her about a week or so ago. Today, I really studied her work. I visited her blog, I browsed her photo stream and I soaked it in. Bridgette... Thank You! Thank you for the inspiration that you gave me to try some new stuff today. To actually see in myself what I have been missing - or overlooking all this time. I'm super excited to try again and let this evolve. Today was fun.
My take away from Bridgette's work is she is really good at sectioning off her panels into small bite sized pieces. This is something that I had been thinking about based on some pillow cases I bought in Thailand. But, today, Bridgette brought this together for me. She creates little pictures within a picture. If you really look at each little section, they stand on their own in color and compostion. They also come together to form one big happy painting. Brilliant! I've been struggling with the compostion of a bigger piece. Breaking it down is HUGE for me. This allows me to color block in black, white and midtones. Today I overlapped these little sections. Next I'll try picture within a picture and see how that feels. First, I think I'll map out in a sketch book the color blocks and how the shapes lay out. Then I'll put together the theme idea and I'll work on some drawing stuff and some photography to incorporate.
Wow, beginning to think like an artist :)