Inspiration as Process

I've been thinking about inspiration. If I think back on how I came up with a few of my series, the inspiration wasn't a "coup de foudre" or something that suddenly came into my head - well, perhaps I did have an "aha" moment. However, it was the result of a confluence of thoughts and experiences simmering and collecting in the back of my mind all leading up to a certain inspirational moment.

For example, for my Autumn series of which you see examples on this site, it started out with the death of my grandma (Mom's mom) who died just shy of her 98th birthday in September. September is an Autumn month where you can see changes of colors in the leaves and trees, a shift in the air, a feeling of ending and new beginnings both at the same time.



Going through her art supplies, I found a box labeled "oils" - I almost never paint in oils because it's much easier using Acrylics and she almost always used either oils or watercolors. I took it because I figured at some point, I would use them. When I got home and opened them a year later, I discovered that they were a line of beautiful acrylic colors - all Autumn colors - and I decided to use only those hues that I found in the box in a series dedicated to the memory of grandma - Charlotte Swanson Cleeland. It was like she had left me a secret gift after she died. After all, I get my talent from her - it seems fitting that she should continue to inspire me.

My first painting in the series, "Autumn Dance," took me a couple of months to finish as I did it in stages. I would put it away, look at it, see what I envisioned, worked on it, put it away, etc. Process. Like what we do every day. We are in the process of becoming more ourselves. Like most things, inspiration is a process and a journey - sometimes long, sometimes spontaneous but hopefully, exciting.

Shopping for paints

Yesterday, I went to Dick Blick to pick out the most fantastically cool paints I've seen so far. I've been thinking about creating a new kind of painting which Sheva inspired me to do - based on the seasons. Since winter is coming, I thought about wintry colors. Back to Dick Blick...There is this great sales woman at the State Street store (Sheva just informed me her name's Annie) who's so knowledgeable, an artist herself, and somewhat of a character. She showed me this fantastic new line of perlescent colors - blue, red, green, any color; all of them have a shimmery, metallic finish to them. You can also find copper, silver and gold. And the BEST part is that they're all water-based. Easy clean-up! Now the challenge is to afford them. Since they're so expensive, I'm making an investment and buying them in installments. I cannot wait to attempt this new kind of painting that I've never done before. I'm so excited!