Creative Boosts #3- Furry friends and artists

We love our pets (furry or fishy, birds, reptiles...whatever) and the time spent with them can inspire your art. My Scottish Terrier, Cailean, shows up in many of my journal pages. Other artists have been inspired by their pets: George Rodrigue gained famed for his Blue Dog series, which was inspired by his beloved dog Tiffany and the legend of the loup-garou (a Cajun were-wolf dog). Beatrix Potter was inspired by her pet rabbits to write of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny and painted beautiful watercolors to illustrate those stories.

Feature your animal friends in some art this weekend. I would love to see your results!

Creative Boosts #2- Watch a Movie

I've been working on compiling a list of visually stunning movies that inspire me to be creative. Sometimes I just want to experience a different time period, a different world, or take a peek into the life of an artist I admire- kind of look over their shoulder and see how their art meshed with their life. Sometimes I want to submerge into a fantasy world completely separate from the day to day world I inhabit now. I'm up to 30 movies, but I am going to list my not necessarily top 10 here. What movies inspire you to be creative or to view the world with a different set of eyes? What movies do you like to watch to recharge your creative batteries?

1. Amelie
2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
3. The Beatles Yellow Submarine
4. Frida
5. Moulin Rouge
6. Alice in Wonderland
7. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
8. Marie Antoinette
9. The Addams Family
10. Across the Universe

Obviously, I enjoy fantasy films, and in general anything by Tim Burton. These movies are a visual treat that gets my mind moving in a creative direction. A good way to transition between the day to day grind and a more contemplative world where anything is possible.

Creative Boosts- Let's go to the Circus!

A friend of mine recently complained that she wasn't feeling inspired to create art and asked me for some hints to jump start her back into the creative groove. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, since I have lots of time on my hands but my creativity is coming in dribs and drabs and I want to fix that myself. Of course the best advice is to make yourself do something, however small, every day (set aside a block of time however small and consider it a must do errand) and over time you should loosen up enough to get the creativity flowing- like a muscle that needs daily excercise. At least I've heard that works. I sit staring at blank journal pages a lot.

So I'm making a list of things to do to refuel your creativity reservior, hopefully to inspire you when you are feeling tapped out and caged up by your daily routine.

1. Let's go to the Circus!
All those colorful outfits, the barrage of activity and visual stimulation, the thrill of the 'death defying feats of acrobatic artistry' etc., that gets your heart pumping! What's not to like, right? I recently had the privilege of seeing the new Cirque du Soleil show "Zarkana" at Radio City Music Hall. The background sets were fabulous, and the show was great. I kept looking at stage sets and had to remember to look at the acts. One of the biggest surprises of the show was a woman who came out on stage alone and stood in front of a pedestal with a large bowl on top. This was a sand painting dish that was projected onto a large oval screen that dropped down from the top of the ceiling so we could watch as she used her hands and blue sand against a white surface to create images from the show, one after another-- it was amazing and the audience was riveted. (I can't image the pitch to include this act in the show...describing it just doesn't do it justice!)
To take a sneak peek at what I saw go here: Zarkana

If you are in the New York area I recommend you make it a point of going to see the show if you can.

Can't make it to the circus? Why not take a tour of the Circus Museum online.


Another site I like to visit is for the Yard Dogs Road Show, a vaudeville act that I have yet to see perform, but I do love the videos on their website.


Here's a photo of two of the journal spreads I am doing with a circus theme. They are works in progress-

More ideas to come in the days ahead!

Blocked Inspiration

Here's the page for today. I still need to journal on it, but after staring at the page for two days, I thought this was good progress. I will update this post when the page is finished.

West Coast Art Time

It's always a struggle to adjust my body clock to West Coast Time. It usually works in my favor, allowing me to be on time and awake at the beginning of the day when I'm usually sleepy and zombielike. There is definitely an adjustment to be made to the vibe of Seattle/PacNorthWest that I really enjoy making. Things are slower and friendlier here in Seattle. The city is smaller and seemingly more accessable. Black is not the dominate color of clothing, which makes people watching all the more interesting.
Other differences between Seattle and NYC- I see a lot of people walking around reading books at the same time. I went to visit the Seattle Public Library and it was pretty packed for a Monday afternoon. I was impressed that they could hand me a laminated page that gave me directions for a self guided tour around what is an incredible building- 11 stories---it is huge and wide open. I'll try to post a photo later, but I loved the words carved in the floor on the first floor of the library and the 'cone of sound' which made me think of the cone of silence from Get Smart. The building is a visual treat!
All of this site seeing I hope will add to my inspirational treasure chest for the art I will be making later in the week at Journalfest.

What do you do to refuel your creative toy chest of inspiration?