Inspiration Gatherings No. 1
8:52 AM
The truth is that ideas for projects aren't pulled out of thin air. For me, inspiration comes from the normal day to day of course, but I have to do a bit of inspiration gathering, too. Here I will share some things I have gathered lately. These seem to be heavily art influenced, but that isn't always the case when I go "gathering." Sometimes it's a leaf I find on my front porch in the dead of winter (true story,) or another completely obscure scenario. I hope to post more of my gatherings in future posts and let you get a sense for what inspires me, so keep an eye out. I'd love to hear what you're gathering, too, feel free to share in comments or use #InspirationGatherings on social media. For now, read on and enjoy!
- Mary Cassatt -
In addition to making art, I've always loved simply looking at art. When I'm feeling uninspired to paint I look at good art until the spark comes back to me. This painting by the beautiful Mary Cassatt was one of those "sparklers." The real goodness of this painting is seen when you can see it close up. Click the image to see it larger, and watch her brushwork come to life! An additional viewing pleasure is to look through this online collection of Mary's work. I think some of her lesser-known works are some of her best!
- The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp -
I love to read. I'll dive into a good book just to let my imagination run somewhere fabulous. It's not always a book with a thick storyline that I love to read though, sometimes even a great blog post will spark something in me. Since graduating college I've been intrigued about the topic of . . . "advice"? Maybe it's that I'm no longer in the presence of many other wonderful artists who were giving out good advice like candy on Halloween, but I read this book just before graduation and the thoughts have really stuck with me still. It's a great read for any creative. Also, this post from Muddy Colors is also one I've been thinking over a lot. I'm not quite ready to elaborate though. What do you think?
-Breanna Rose Wallpaper and My Custom Folder Icons -
If I were to give out medals to the places I spend most of my working hours, my easel would come in first, and my laptop second. Aside from the normal business upkeep like emails, invoices, etc. I spend a lot of time sorting through photos to paint and planning out compositions in photoshop. I'm also blogging (yay!) and doing some other freelance design work. It can be a lot of time staring at a screen, so I like to make it clean, organized, and beautiful. I think when your workspace is clean, inspiration can more easily walk through the front door. (Continue reading below image.)
Currently, I have this wallpaper from Breanna Rose! Don't you just love that?! "Make It Happen!" I only discovered this girl after finding the wallpaper, and I'm already pouring over her blog and work. Go browse around her blog--you'll definitely be inspired! She has lots of other desktop wallpaper that she posts occasionally, along with many other things, and it's all wonderful!
In addition to Breanna Rose's incredible desktop wallpaper, I customized my folders! Inspired by Kate Spade of course, because who isn't inspired by her, too? ;) It's fairly simple, to change your folder icons on a Mac, read this article. You can create your own .png images on Photoshop and convert them to the correct file type using this website, or download my gold stripe/ Kate Spade inspired folders here.
4 Comments
I love reading about your inspiration and your work! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Charity!
DeleteThanks for the inspiration! That book, especially, looks great!
ReplyDeleteOh, it is Kaylan! I'm reading it again! and Thank you! :)
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