This month's topic is inspiration and to be honest it's not as easy to answer as you might think.
Maybe if the question had been "where do I not go for inspiration" although I'm not even sure I could answer that.
The truth is that inspiration is hiding everywhere even if that sounds like a cliché, and I do not have to go anywhere, I just have to look around me. Don't think I want to brag. Being inspired doesn't mean that something comes always out of it. Some ideas don't work out, some fail because of lacking skills, materials or time.
Sometimes I think my brain is like a nest with baby birds and that one cuckoo who does its best to push them out of the nest. I don't write my inspirations down and they probably fall out of my brain and get stepped on all the time.
I don't really think that matters, though. It would take up so much time to try them all. The fun part is being inspired and feeling an idea creep into your head, and as long as some of them hold on to their nest and grow up, that's perfectly fine. Okay, my metaphor might be a little wonky here ... creeping baby birds, huh.
Inspiration comes from my cats' eyes - I don't have to go there, they follow me around and even stick to me at times as if they are glued on, the cats, not their eyes of course - the tiles in my bathroom - you would be surprised how many different things I have seen in their glazed surface before when standing there brushing my hair - clouds, the evening sky, nature in general actually, colors, movies, floors - remember my bead loomed rug and floor series? - music, faces, sounds ... take a moment, watch and listen.
I am convinced that most of the times people don't see the original inspiration in my pieces or wouldn't even suspect one even if it's there. There's the spark and maybe even a complicated train of thought behind there and often enough I forget them myself.
I'm absolutely sure it's the same for others out there and that makes the whole journey so exciting, doesn't it?
If you would like what the other JAC members have to say about that subject, have a look here. I'll add links as they come in.
Bead Sophisticate
thecraftychimp
I'd also like to hear your opinion, especially if you are an artist yourself. What inspires you?
Where do I not go for inspiration? Ha, that would be a nice long post for me!
ReplyDeleteMaybe we'll save that topic for later this year! ;-)
DeleteGreat post, Cat! You are so right that sometimes inspiration is all around us and at other times we are inspired by things so subtle, we don't even realize that an idea has sprouted. Either way, seeing inspiration through to completion is so satisfying!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Dawn.
DeleteJust yesterday I got an inspiration for an episode from a TV crime series which actually has to do with an old movie, though. Sometimes inspiration even works around corners ;-)