Some of my artist friends invited me to visit their friend who moved to the country - about an hour from Chicago. She has a beautiful wooded property with land, animals, and a barn turned studio as well as an artist retreat cottage.
We had lunch of homemade lentil soup and various snacks, talked, visited, did art, quilting, knitting, and walked in the wooded property visiting with ducks and other animals.
I worked on this upside down sketch project. It was a really nice day and I feel inspired to create!
While nothing beats a high-quality camera, I often capture wonderful images I can turn into art on my iPhone. I currently have the iPhone 7Plus which has the upgraded camera. I used it for this shot taken in "portrait" mode, which blurs out the background to create the depth field. But more importantly, I use it in moments when I don't have my camera around and it's just convenient. I probably wouldn't have got the picture any other way. It's really in these fleeting moments that make for great art. Even this still life photo I took is from a now deceased friend's home. She was old. She is now gone. I will be painting it in both watercolor...
I often paint on cotton canvas but have a new 12 x 12 inch oil-primed linen canvas I will be using to paint these beauties. Sometimes the tulips tend to turn out on the warm-side on the oil-primed linen. The challenge for me will be to keep the cool/hot-pink color in these beauties.
People often ask me where I get my inspiration from and also how I get inspired.
But inspiration isn't a problem. My only problem is finding time and resources to do all I feel inspired to create.
The best thing I have found is to plan out as much as I can daily, weekly, monthly, and going forward long term. I also capture thoughts and ideas as soon as inspiration hits me so I don't forget.
It just hope I have the time to do all I dream of.
