June 30, 2011

Where does your inspiration come from?

Part of what I love about this art piece is how the hubcap makes such a wonderful base and contrast for all these great faces. It inspires me to find different ways to use faces, other than as part of a figurative sculpture.

Where do you find your inspiration? 

Do images form in your mind while reading a good book or listening to music? Does walking or working in nature conjure up ideas? Activities like these can spark whole avalanches of new thoughts and ideas for me.

What about viewing other people’s art online? This is another great venue for inspiration. Whether it’s photos on Flickr or belonging to a group that focuses on a medium, or style of art, you're interested in – be it painting, collage, altered books, pen & ink, writing or, one of my interests, sculpting the human face - hence the above photo.

The advantages of belonging to a group are many. You can explore how various artists express a 'theme' through different mediums, share your thoughts on a particular craft/art, ask questions about technical problems or share your 'know how' with others. Seeing how other artists approach a topic helps you see/think out side the box. Then there is seeing just how wide the interpretation of an art/medium can be translated and expressed.

'Hubcap Art', by Keri Joy Colestock, is just one example of some of the amazing work being created and shared online. What can be more inspiring than seeing how a person takes an object, or medium, in a new direction? For me that can inspire all kinds of thoughts! I am particularly creatively challenged by people who take unusual objects, mix them with their own special flare and just run with it, creating a 'series' or body of work that follows a process through many transformations. You can see how the germ of an idea (expressed in her hubcap) moves through several of Keri's pieces on her Etsy site.

 Where has inspiration led your art?

4 comments:

  1. Besides Flickr, I think following blogs (like yours!) inspire me! Many times, when a blogger links to another blogger, I discover someone that makes me want to create something.
    Since I'm not able to actually do anything yet (I'm so sorry!!!!- you know what I mean!), I've found that-in my head- I've created whole series of art! Sigh... I'd rather they become real than just imagined, but I'm biding my time... ; )
    Great post!
    Lotus

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  2. Lotus,
    I forgot about other blogs (duh!), but you are so right, I've gotten great inspiration through them!
    Soon you will be able to express all those ideas in actual form, no worries!

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  3. I would say that seeing others creations whether on their blogs or Flickr or wherever inspires me. But sometimes even flipping through a magazine, the colors, the mood, gets me inspired. Unfortunately, like Lotus, most of my ideas are in my head. But I'm promising myself to get started!
    :) - Cindi

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  4. Cindi! I love to tear pictures out of magazines too and a lot of the time it's for the color combination more than anything else. I have several note books full of these pictures to draw on when inspiration seems to have left. Still, I'm right there with you and Lotus, there are many things in my head too, they just aren't getting created at the moment. don't you find that creation is cyclic? that you have to fill the 'well' to bursting before you really hunker down and 'create'? that's generally how it goes for me, but once I get going I can go for a while, then it's back to the vegetative state to restock.

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