Everyday we walk our calico cat

Creativity and inspirational moments surround us every day even when performing daily routines. Every morning we take our indoor cat, Calico, out to explore the nearby parkland. 

Calico is a rescue kitten from the RSPCA, from day one we accustomed her to be on the lead every time we left the house, our morning walk is now something we both look forward to. 

We head out pretty early, and often we watch the sun pop over the horizon, most mornings are spent exploring, but some are spent absorbing the early morning rays. During these quieter days, I get to take photos of her and our surrounds.

Getting up early can be a struggle but the early morning smells, noises and sunlight are very inspiring. The purses are featuring newly released fabrics, 'In the Park' and 'Seaside lattice' both inspired by our early morning adventures.

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How a mundane task turned into a creative day out?

The day began routinely walk the cat, re-started morning pages, wash the car, breakfast, do a load of washing and drop the car off to get four new tyres and full wheel alignment. I had booked the car in for a 'while you wait' service taking about one and a half hours. On a whim, well I noticed a bus stop nearby and thought why not. Dropped the car off and caught the bus into town. Of course, there was a bit of looking at the shops, coffee and watch the world go by and finally ended up in the library. 

Allowing the whim moment to keep evolving I went to a section of the library I hadn't previously been and wondered the shelves to see what might grab my attention. A black spined book with white child-like writing peeped out from its bigger neighbours. The way it peeped out reminded me of Calico when we play hide in seek. "Steal like an Artist" by Austin Kloen, intriguing title, unique format 6" square and just one hundred and forty pages long. Page nineteen caught my eye as I thumbed through, right there in black font while on an unplanned trip to the library are the words.

You have to be curious about the world in which you live. Look things up. Chase down every reference. Go deeper than anybody else - that's how you'll get ahead. From "Steal Like an Artist" by Austin Kleon.

mmm.. not sure where this will go, oh well!. Let's run with it. I had one of my sketchbook bags with me so pen and paper in hand. I firstly copied phrases, words and ideas that inspired. As I copied, new ideas came to mind, and I ended up doing a form of word association.

Word association is the process of using at least one word that is related to your topic as the starting point, then allowing your mind to spit bull (no filters) additional words and thoughts that spring to mind.

Start by writing the word at the top of the page. Look at the word and write down whatever comes to mind. Keep writing until you feel tapped out. Review the list and highlight the words that resonate with you. Write these words in columns across a new sheet of paper and one word at a time repeat the process. Once you've finished, sit back and have a look at the lists and again highlight the words that resonate with you. Often there are common elements. This collection of words is now the basis for further investigation. 

I was first introduced to this process during a workshop with Textile Artist Carol Wilkes via a dictionary wordplay exercise. We made a list of words that related to the assigned topic and using thesauruses and dictionaries we looked up each word and expanded the idea. The vintage of the dictionary can yield entirely different results.

Dictionary wordplay, word association and mind mapping are my go-to tools when exploring new subjects, deep diving a project investigation, resolving a stuck point or just exercising the mind with a bit of creative playtime. As you gather and collect inspiration include word association as part of the process, you never know where it will take you. My sketchbooks are works in progress and an ongoing resource; they often end up with all sorts of side thoughts, quick sketches, photos, collected bits n bobs and odd bits of paper. To get you started, I've put together a Word Association Worksheet, it's in PDF format.

6 Ways to Find & Collect Inspiration

Inspiration is the force that drives you to the studio. It is a state of mind where everything is possible and everything is clear. Inspiration motivates you to keep working. For the most part inspiration flows, but on occasion, the white page can be nail biting. Gathering and recording ideas along the way is very handy for those nail-biting times. Having a pool of ideas means you can dip your hand in and pull out a starting point.

Every day we are surrounded by inspirational moments, moments that are often taken for granted. With trained eyes, these moments will seem different, as if you are seeing them for the first time. Step out of your own way, open your eyes and mind, and start seeing, gathering and recording ideas every day. Once you start you'll be surprised what catches your eye.

Everyday Objects - Often items that we take for granted can be a source of inspiration. While doing the dishes one morning, the sun glistening across the vintage bread knife sitting on the sink caught my eye. I used the camera, firstly in color then in monochrome to capture several aspect of the moment.

This captured moment later became the inspiration for "On the Edge". Take a walk around your house or garden, have a new look. Set the camera to monochrome or macro mode and snap a few of those everyday objects, be inspired by the new perspective.

Urban Surrounds - Beyond our house, we are surrounded by urban landscape. A landscape filled with natual and man-made objects. A great source of architecture, colour, interactions and smells. Even discarded items can be a source of inspiration. I was once a part of an exhibition where the curator chose 'Pallets' for the theme. All works selected to exhibit had to respond or reflect pallets.

Travel - When on holidays we are usually relaxed and ready to embrace the opportunity to observe and explore new landscape and architecture, see unfamiliar plants and animals, try a different cuisine, explore new cultures, and our camera or sketchbook is usually close to hand.

Sketchbook pages from a trip to Tasmania

Nature - the natural world is filled with some of the best starting points for creativity. Take a walk around your own garden, visit the local park or Botanical Gardens, stroll along the beach, close your eyes and listen to the sounds, go hiking and remember to enjoy the four seasons.

Clear Blue Sky – nature provides us with a canvass in the form of a clear blue sky. Looking up or positioning yourself so you can observe various objects or elements with the sky as the background is another source of inspiration. 

Inspiration behind "Dance through the Reeds"

The clarity of the blue sky is mesmerizing and a big source of inspiration for my creative practice.

News headlines – we are surrounded by many forms of media, presented in many forms. What we observe through the media often provokes a reaction. Take a moment to ask yourself why, and see where it goes. 

The world is full of inspirational moments and often those moments are closer than we think. Take action and begin to collect inspirational imagery, record thoughts, sketch or take photos, organize these together to create your own inspirational pool.

"Creativity is intelligence 

having fun"

Albert Einstein

almost time to shop, plan a menu and dust off decorations

 

Where has this year gone? It's hard to believe it's almost time to unpack those festive decorations. Redbubble have been expanding their range, so in addition to cards and prints they also have throw pillows, phone & tablet cases, duvet covers, stickers, hoodies and tote bags. Jump across to Redbubble and have a look. 

The end of year is also the time of year when we start to plan menus for the various events. Being a home cook putting together menus for functions is a little hobby of mine and I get a lot of enjoyment seeing people enjoy the meals. Planning a menu is essentially a balancing act of colours, textures, temperature, flavours and lead time.

Over the years I've learnt to:

1) Go with the flow of the season and subtly adjust the dishes accordingly

2) Pick a main dish or meat type and go from there. 

3) Think starter, main, sides and dessert 

4) Mix and match: throw in a handful of store bought items. No need to do all the work.

When putting together a menu keep in mind the old adage 'less is more' a well planned simple to prepare menu is often more appetizing than lots of different contrasting flavours. Prepare as much as possible in advance, give yourself the best opportunity to enjoy the event as well. I've put together a Party Menu Planner, it's a printable PDF. 

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a collection of recent moments

 enjoying a spring garden including these flowering geraniums

 our house supervisor of 15 years, her name is Bobbin

 enjoying the new kitchen, adapted from a recipe first seen on Masterchef

salmon wrapped in banana leaf steamed then framed with leek and potato soup

adorned with salmon skin crackle, lightly fried greens and a shaving of Parmesan

engaging with garden visitors

 re-purposed gutters nailed to the side of the shed overflow with juicy strawberries

 getting ready for the upcoming BVAC Pop Up Shop

Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd November 2014

in the Auditorium at Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens

and baking a few of our favorites

-these are a few of our recent moments-

sky a natural blue canvass

The weekly chore of hanging washing on the line becomes creative playtime when you take the camera with you visually capturing the process and surrounds. It's early morning, often the moon is still high in the sky even though the sun has popped over the eastern horizon. 

A collection of images captured over several early mornings throughout this Winter. 

I do enjoy borrowing the sky as canvass - seeing how objects natural or artificial dance against it. 

fabrics inspired by leaf litter, seasonal change & urban events

Zippered cushion (45cmx45cm) featuring fabrics inspired by palm trees, fern leaf and fallen leaf litter

Work in progress using white on whites from my stash teamed with fabrics tales unfold, light reading & urban texture daily life

A collection of fabrics inspired by urban texture, daily surrounds & routines

Fabric "Light Reading" has been inspired by the above image. An area of our humble home that we converted to be a mini library. A place to pause and of course, a place to create, be inspired or have a cup of tea.

Framed purse using a four-inch frame and fabric 'Autumn Sky.'

Fabrics available through Spoonflower

Totally enjoy getting inspiration from my surrounds both at home and further afield.
Inspiration really is everywhere, every day

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A carry bag using off-cuts and fabric inspired by nature

 

frosty ground & clear blue sky - a natural contrast

When I saw the weather forecast yesterday for today predicting a fresh start of 2 degrees Celsius with isolated frosts yet still getting up to a top of 22 degrees, my initial plan was to sleep in until about an hour after dawn. Being sub-tropical if you sleep in through that dawn period you usually miss the coldest part of the day. That was my plan, but the fur-child is accustomed to our household stirring from 4am and getting fed pretty close to that, today would be the same, and she dutifully meowed like a little alarm clock with a broken snooze button. The flip side of this, I was now up and awake enough to enjoy the early morning sun rising up over the tree line and into the neighbouring parkland. An opportunity not to be missed especially with the sun rays glistening through the frosty grass. Camera in hand and donning an additional jumper off we went fur-child in tow for an early morning stroll enjoying the moment and seizing the day. The morning vista from our window was beautiful but how inspiring to be out in amongst the natural contrast of a clear blue sky and the frosty ground.  

snippets of daily detail

a picture is a poem without words

-Horace-

Leaf of marjoram, citronella lantern, paper flowers, a lady beetle, a white picket fence and
lettuce that's gone to seed - these are a few of my daily things.
Exploring & enjoying snippets of daily detail one frame at a time.
  -inspiration everywhere, everyday-

inspiration even when doing those dishes

Who would have thought that one would see inspiration even when doing the washing up. Somehow I missed washing this knife and spoon when I placed the items on the sink, the reflecting light caught my eye. So, I reached for the camera and preceded to take several shots.

After a few shots, I switched the camera settings to monochrome which evened out the tired colours of our poor old kitchen enabling me to concentrate on the line, shapes and pattern the knife and spoon created against the draining board. The kitchen my second studio I see it as a creative extension of my practice. The top photo became my main inspiration for "On the edge".

Inspiration everywhere, every day

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How a Mundane day turned into a creative day

updated April 2019

from the sketchbook - studio study

exploring a few of my studio items through the lens and with pen

inspiration everywhere, everyday

hello February