Finding Inspiration

Where do you find inspiration?  Better yet, what inspires you?  I used to have one source of inspiration. Let me rephrase that.  As far as what I want to accomplish with my life, I had one source.  Kelly Rae Roberts.  I love her.  I love her artwork.  I love what she’s managed to accomplish all on her own.  I am starting to step out of that box and realize that there are other artists out there who have accomplished similar things.  I have been doing a lot of research, and I managed to convince myself that I can do it too.  As far as art is concerned, I look at blogs of other artists all the time.  I love seeing what other artists doing, learning new techniques and getting ideas for my work.  However, I’m starting to think I’m spending way too much time doing that and not doing art.  There’s inspiration, and then there’s time being sucked away from my life.  I don’t want to fall victim to all this technology we have.  It’s incredible what you can accomplish on a computer, but there’s a fine line there.  Once you cross over, it’s hard to not just stay there.  I don’t want to give up looking at blogs and taking online workshops and all those awesome things, but I don’t want to lose myself in the process.

This cute little guy was inspired by the lovely Wendy Brightbill.  

On another note, I’m trying to find inspiration in other ways.  Maybe the fact that I didn’t go to art school, makes it more difficult for me to know where to look and what to look for.  I hear people say their work is inspired my nature, and sometimes I just don’t see it in their work.  I’m a pretty literal person, and that may be my problem.  If I see a picture of a tree, and someone says they were inspired by it, I expect to see a painting of a tree.  I guess that’s why I’m not an abstract artist!  I guess that’s also why I rely so much on other artists’ work to inspire me.  I have been very inspired by my daughter lately.  She is such an amazing little person.  She loved to draw and paint.  I love the fact that she will just sit and draw or paint.  She doesn’t give it any thought.  She just does.  I envy the freedom she feels.  She is going to be a great little artist.

This is one of my daughter's amazing drawings.  I don't know a lot about kid's abilities, but it amazes me that she can do this at the age of 3.  This is a pony and rainbow.

One thing I wish for is to find a balance between looking for inspiration, being inspired and putting that inspiration to work.  I hope everyone is able to find that balance.  It’s not an easy thing, at least for me.  I am very easily distracted though.  Maybe that’s my biggest problem.