Archive for the ‘What Inspires You?’ Category

In this feature, each month artists share one thing that excites them creatively.

One key piece to support healthy, productive creativity is stimulating inputs. What kinds of things stimulate the creative centers of the brain? What kind of inputs stimulate us visually? Emotionally? Spiritually? Mentally? Physically?

I’d really like to know, what’s one thing that fills your creative cup? Share with us in the comment section below.

Matthew Johnson

Hello M.A. bloggers, my name is Matthew Johnson and my creative stimulation dwells within the realm of the creation we call “Life.” From the tiniest insects that stroll around among the vast plains, and rolling hills of this planet, to the human machines that occupy this world, and discover the ins and outs about our existences through experiences. There are so many outlets that my artistic view drives upon, and my mind travels alongside imagination avenue with my solar-battery operated automobile packed full of music, paint, pens, and a broken navigational device (to ensure that I am in no way shape or form ‘set’ within any boundaries of expression). As you stroll through the corridors of the imagination, it is only you that can entail what you see and then begin to proceed to create the pieces you’re driven to produce. Continue all the great work, and may peace be your imagination’s significant other.

Matthew Johnson

Toni Murgas

Things that inspire me may be a picture of nature, a book I’m reading, a dream or a song. I was reading a book on Edward Manet and how he used to cut paper as he got older to create his art. This inspired me to cut and paste colored paper.

Toni Murgas

In this feature, each month artists share one thing that excites them creatively.

One key piece to support healthy, productive creativity is stimulating inputs. What kinds of things stimulate the creative centers of the brain? What kind of inputs stimulate us visually? Emotionally? Spiritually? Mentally? Physically?

I’d really like to know, what’s one thing that fills your creative cup? Share with us in the comment section below.

Kellyann Lyman

The continued practice of an academic rubric that instills a love of learning is what inspires me. I continue to explore the complexities of abstract painting by continually readdressing the medium with reinvented concepts and methods from conceptual and minimal art: the use of repetition, color palettes, materials, the appropriation of photographic images, ink, silkscreen, digital reproduction and the transmedia discourse.

Kellyann Lyman

kellyannart.com

Carol Steinberg

I’m inspired by flowers, sunlight, and bright colors!

Carol Steinberg

www.carolsteinberg.com

I’ve sat on a few art juries before in a darkened room for hours looking at hundreds of projected images. The consensus from numerous jurors is that although you create outstanding art, if your images don’t show it, you can forget about getting selected.

Sometimes an overly dark or blurry photograph of a painting or sculpture is projected on the screen and you wonder “How could someone put such exquisite care into their art and not have noticed how poor these digital images are?”

It can happen to the best of us. Unless you are a photographer already, you may not have the skills or the eye yet to even know when your images are representing your work well.

Here’s something I’ve noticed: I spend so many hours, days, months with each piece of art I make that I often can’t “see” what my digital images really look like. Because I have such a deep relationship with the work, I see it as I visualize it in my head not as it’s appearing on the screen.

I’ve had to really train my eye over the years to be discerning as to whether my pictures are really representing the work. And, yes, it’s taken years.

Some suggestions:

1. If possible, sit down at your computer with your original art piece in your line of vision. Glance back and forth at both and pay attention to details, light, texture, etc. Really scrutinize every aspect of your work. Do those digital pictures really look like your work?

2. Find a discerning friend (or two) to do the same exercise. First show them the images on your computer, then show them the actual artwork. Ask them to be very specific as to the differences they see.
3. Invest in (or borrow) a good quality digital camera (a digital SLR with a detachable lens) to document your work. If you don’t have the funds yet, start putting away a little money each month. This will give you time to do your research.

4. Research your camera options fully before buying. Use the internet, consumer reports, your camera geek friends, youtube reviews, etc. Some camera buffs LOVE to talk about cameras and will be happy to share their knowledge with you. They’ll also throw around a lot of technical jargon that may confuse you. Take notes. Give yourself time to learn and study. Don’t rush into your purchase.

5. Make a list of all the features you need your camera to have. If you make jewelry, you’ll need a different type of lens from an artist who does large scale public artworks.

6. Save money. When you are sure of what you want or need and have the choices narrowed to a few models, keep an eye out for sales or scan craigslist.

7. Learn a photo editing program such as Adobe Photoshop. If you take your own photographs, you must learn to use Photoshop®. There are some easy-to-learn tricks for making your work look better on the computer screen which is where most people will see it first. Even if you aren’t a great photographer, don’t have the best camera or have less-than-ideal lighting there are tons of things you can easily correct if you know Photoshop®. I recommend Photoshop because it’s the industry standard, and once you learn the basics, you can take it further if you like.

8. If you do small scale, 2-D work, try scanning it. I’ve saved a lot of money on professional photography by scanning my small works on paper. Important because when you do a lot of drawing, you can be quite prolific.

9. Hire a professional! If all this sounds totally daunting, and you are in a position financially to hire a professional art documenter to photograph your work, please DO! It is one of the BEST investments you can make in your work. Keep in mind that not any professional photographer can do good art documentation. Just as not every painter knows how to do monotype. Different skill sets, different equipment. Do your research. Ask artist friends for recommendations or call local museums and galleries and find out who they use. Be prepared to spend at least $125 an hour or a per artwork fee, plus processing. You may be able to save money here if you know Photoshop and can do your own image processing.

In this feature, each month artists share one thing that excites them creatively.

One key piece to support healthy, productive creativity is stimulating inputs. What kinds of things stimulate the creative centers of the brain? What kind of inputs stimulate us visually? Emotionally? Spiritually? Mentally? Physically?

I’d really like to know, what’s one thing that fills your creative cup? Share with us in the comment section below.

What Inspires You?
Danila Rumold

Trekking through the mountains, amongst the shaded forests, alongside the babbling rivers, and looking down into the crystal clear glacier lakes, I can experience moments of quiet and mental stillness. In this space, connected to Nature, my creativity flows, speaking my unshakable truth.

Danila Rumold

danilarumold.com

What Inspires You?
Cecilia Power

So many things inspire me, breathing, flowers, blue skies, a blade of grass, the list could go on ad infinitum! In my work, I see elements of nature, often obscure to anyone but myself. When I can, I give homage to nature in as clear a manner as possible for my chosen muse. It is  not often easy to make pretty like I would like, it is complicated! One brush stroke with my knots takes hours, it is like I am painting in slow-mo! When I get something just the way I want it, ooh how satisfying to the spirit!

Cecilia Power

In this feature, each month artists share one thing that excites them creatively.

One key piece to support healthy, productive creativity is stimulating inputs. What kinds of things stimulate the creative centers of the brain? What kind of inputs stimulate us visually? Emotionally? Spiritually? Mentally? Physically?

I’d really like to know, what’s one thing that fills your creative cup? Share with us in the comment section below.

What Inspires You?
Dave Reid

I’m inspired by science (nanotechnology, for example), colour, other cultures, history (West coast native art is great), form and sky. Often one thing will lead to another; I’m working on some pictures for an upcoming show – one picture took an abrupt turn, which I followed and am now learning new aspects from this.

Dave Reid

What Inspires You?
Sean Glenn

Life is what inspires me: the authenticity of each emotional experience lends validity to each brush stroke. What inspires is sometimes the pain that comes with living, it’s joys, it’s sorrows, it’s triumphs and  it’s losses. What inspires me is love.

Sean Glenn

http://www.wix.com/blacincworks/blacin-art

In this feature, each month artists share one thing that excites them creatively.

One key piece to support healthy, productive creativity is stimulating inputs. What kinds of things stimulate the creative centers of the brain? What kind of inputs stimulate us visually? Emotionally? Spiritually? Mentally? Physically?

I’d really like to know, what’s one thing that fills your creative cup? Share with us in the comment section below.

What Inspires You?

Linda Ursin

What inspires me?

Anything and everything. It’s hard for me to pick one. I can’t really say I know where it comes from. I’m multi-creative, which means I create in many different ways.

Linda Ursin
Website: heksebua.com/linda

What Inspires You?
Leo Anderson

What inspires me?

Ideas come from everywhere. God gave us a lot to work with and putting it together in a unique way intrigues us all. Make notes. Your mind is full and universal mind has all – so take notes on what comes to you. It doesn’t matter if you’re working on a thing or not. Put a date on it. Do everything you do perfect because it’s all only single steps. Nature is full, observe!

Leo

In this feature, each month artists share one thing that excites them creatively.

One key piece to support healthy, productive creativity is stimulating inputs. What kinds of things stimulate the creative centers of the brain? What kind of inputs stimulate us visually? Emotionally? Spiritually? Mentally? Physically?

I’d really like to know, what’s one thing that fills your creative cup? Share with us in the comment section below.

What Inspires You?
Juhli Caldwell

Being creative is not something I have to work at, it is a gift I feel I was born with fully developed. I believe everyone is a creator. Every experience in life for me turns out to have a creative component, from becoming invisible in a bad part of town to arranging flowers for the kitchen table. Artistic creativity, in my own perception, is one of allowing myself to be guided by a higher energy than my ego, of getting out of the way and letting go of forcing to a place of opening up to the creative process.
 
An example, this morning, as I was sorting through some imperfect computer photo prints,  rippping up the ones that were seconds, thinking “this is a shame that I would waste this lovely color” Just because it did not come out right. ( ink had run out and so I replaced the ink and ran it through again, which caused a blurring)- Anyways, something quietly suggested that I might try cutting up the prints and see what comes out. One image had yielded a painting previously that I am still working on and now I could see 3 new images. I developed the images with some ink further, to bring them out and made a note as to what they meant. As I looked at these little images together, they formed a kind of chronology or story.
 
   I mounted these images together in a line using contact cement on heavy white paper and wrote in pencil the meaning of each little image, then placed in a frame.
 
This I did before breakfast.
 

Then I photographed the image, posted to my blog and cooked up pasta and eggs Breakfast.

Juhli Caldwell

http://juhlicaldwell.blogspot.ca/

What Inspires You?
Avi Zamir

It makes me feel good to resolve problem of space and color. Seeing other artists work is also inspiring.

Avi Zamir

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aviart/

In this feature, each month artists share one thing that excites them creatively.

One key piece to support healthy, productive creativity is stimulating inputs. What kinds of things stimulate the creative centers of the brain? What kind of inputs stimulate us visually? Emotionally? Spiritually? Mentally? Physically?

I’d really like to know, what’s one thing that fills your creative cup? Share with us in the comment section below.

What Inspires You?

Laureen Marchand

What inspires me?

Throughout my career as a painter, I have explored the relationship of the self to the spirit. Recently I’ve used images of dried roses to reflect on ideas related to beauty, loss, and the passage of time. There are some lines in a 1980s song by Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes, Song of Bernadette, that I think capture the part of the human spirit that inspires me most:

We’ve been around, we fall, we fly

We mostly fall, we mostly run

And every now and then we try

To mend the damage that we’ve done

Loss, beauty, time, and in a very small way, transcendence. So human.

Laureen Marchand
Website:www.grasslandsgallery.com

What Inspires You?
Vas Littlecrow Wojtanowicz

Whenever I enter my studio, I am immediately drawn to the window. I never know what awaits there.  Will it be a family of deer strolling through the pines as fresh winter snow blankets the landscape?  Perhaps, a raccoon will stare at me with curiosity from behind the glass, wondering about my activities, as flowers bloom all around.   The other day, I saw a tiny toad trying to take shelter from the rain.

My backyard is such a muse.  I can’t get enough of its gifts. Thanks to the studio window, I am able to watch the most delightful and inspirational nature show to never be broadcast on television.

My art is all the better for this amazing opportunity.

Vas Littlecrow
Website: http://vaslittlecrow.com/

In this feature, each month artists share one thing that excites them creatively.

One key piece to support healthy, productive creativity is stimulating inputs. What kinds of things stimulate the creative centers of the brain? What kind of inputs stimulate us visually? Emotionally? Spiritually? Mentally? Physically?

I’d really like to know, what’s one thing that fills your creative cup? Share with us in the comment section below.

What Inspires You?
Jonnie Chrystal

What inspires me?

I am inspired these days by animals. Birds occupied a lot of my time last year. Horses seem to be up at the moment. And I am working in pastels, so my work is becoming more and more painterly, a look I like a lot. Don’t like to get too tight or prissy. Also work hard to give the animals their own aspect and not project any coyness onto them. I’ll leave that to the greeting card folks. 

Jonnie Chrystal

Blog: http://cowwoman.blogspot.com

What Inspires You?
Sioux George

I am inspired by the places we visit. Volcanic stone used in mosaics in Azores. Detail in ancient structres in Scotland. Advertising signs in Dublin. Chain mail and armor detail in the Tower of London. Man hole covers, doorways, and wandering the streets in Honfleur, France.

Sioux George

http://gourdette.com/

In this feature, each month artists share one thing that excites them creatively.

One key piece to support healthy, productive creativity is stimulating inputs. What kinds of things stimulate the creative centers of the brain? What kind of inputs stimulate us visually? Emotionally? Spiritually? Mentally? Physically?

I’d really like to know, what’s one thing that fills your creative cup?

If you’d like to be part of this feature, send an email to info@themindfulartist.com. Include a sentence or two about one of your key inspirations. Please include some photos – either to illustrate your inspiration, to share your artwork with us. We especially love pictures of YOU! We want to feature YOU and your work so please send a link to your blog or website or flicker page.

What Inspires You?
Candace Pryor

What inspires me?

Lately, I’ve been inspired by African-American male presenting lesbians. Before I explain what that means, I’ll give a little insight on who I am.

For a long, long time I hid my sexuality for the usual reasons (shame, fear, internal turmoil, etc) Though I’m over that, I’ve never put my sexuality into my work and so I’ve started drawing and painting African-American lesbians.

I love everything about gender-bending women who present themselves as more male than female to the public. They are my inspiration and I hope to honor the many things that they are, visually.

CandacePryor aka ARTacrobat, Raleigh, NC
Website: http://www.wix.com/artacrobat/candace#!home|mainPage
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/ARTacrobat

What Inspires You?
Ann Holsberry

One of the things that inspires me is old found papers I gather when I travel to other countries. My use of them in my art is not about sentimentality for the past; rather these ephemera evoke for me a feeling of the passage of time. I often use them with encaustic which provides both protection and a luminous veiled quality.

I am pleased that my work will be featured in an E-book, Encaustic and Paper: Twenty International Artists which will be published this year.

This is a photo of me in my studio with some old papers and French Notebook, one of my works in the background.

Ann Holsberry, Watsonville, CA
Website: http://www.annholsberry.com