Inspiration Today, Studio Happenings and Work in Progress: 158

Revisiting the Art's Way, spending time on walks
and looking to nature to find inspiration

Here's what I am finding inspiring today -

1. This Quote - “If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” Edward Hopper
2.  Ways to get unstuck in creativity from a newsletter from my wonderful and creative friend Kat Sloma over at Kateyestudio.com 
   Here are four ways to jump start your creativity, suggested by my readers:
   1. Change mediums. There is nothing like dabbling with a different set of tools to open up a creative channel, is there?
   2. Go for a walk. Getting outside and moving helps you see things in a whole new way. Good for your body, mind and creative soul!
   3. Do something completely different. Go off and cook, work on a house project, and let your mind wander. The ideas inevitably come when we aren't wanting them.
   4. Journal. Morning pages are part of The Artist's Way for a reason, helping us to get all of those limiting thoughts out of our head and onto the page. 
   But most of all, they suggested, take the pressure off and let things be. Creative dips often come before a big step forward or a new project coming your way. Be patient, they told me.
3.  The brilliant and inspiring words of Julia Cameron every day with this book
4.  How my friend Minnemie sees art in the broken
5. Raise Your Hand and Say Yes

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 :)

Inspiration File

color, line and texture

I had an assignment to set up an inspiration file. That was the easy part. Review recent photos I've taken and pick my favorites. The hard part was then really looking at the photos and finding the commonalities... what is the common thread that runs through the photos?

I also looked at the entire collection of 365 photos that I have taken over the past year. My first impression was that the photos are all over the map... subject, location, vantage point, color - all aspects. So this assignment has been good for me. Good for me to really look, to go beyond first impressions and really look deeper and see what I find. I had to mull this over a while because I was disappointed that I couldn't see a style and a voice that just jumped out. At first glance it looked like a jumbled mess of whatever.

I did notice that I like close up photos and nature. Not really quite macro, but in some cases yes. I like to fill the frame. But, why? To cut the crap? - yes. Do I focus too narrowly - not seeing the forest through the trees? - yes, sometimes. I had to think on this too. Do I need to stand back more and take in the whole picture rather than the detail? re-compose a little - yes.

My conclusion is I like three things in my photos - color, texture and either line or shape depending on the subject. When I take a step back and really look, I find these elements are dominent. I like to focus on the texture of the cool things in nature that I find along the way - thus the close up detail shots. I also tend to take photos as I am out walking the dog... which brings my subject matter and location to --> Urban nature.

The missing elements of design? Pattern and Form. These are good things to identify and give me a challenge to try and include more often. I also need to stand back more and see the whole picture. I'm chalking up my first year of photography as a year of exploration. No judging, just accepting the things that documented my year for what they were. This is the year to take what I learned and am learning and see what I can do. It will be interesting to see if I can clear my throat and find my voice this coming year. Will be it be tight and linear? Or bold and loud? Or colorful and exotic?