Inspirations in Visual Art

What if a light bulb and a soft-serve
ice cream cone had a baby?
You'd get a CFL
(Compact Fluorescent Lamp)
[From the JoyReactor Website]

I'm always looking for inspiration for art projects, lesson plans, and especially what to blog about. Now that I have 136 posts, it is becoming increasingly more challenging to come up with ideas. I had hoped that my readers would comment, asking me to include topics of interest to them. After posting seven Baltics posts of June 2019, I received a request from one of my most avid readers for another in-depth series which resulted in six Art of the Pacific Northwest posts of July 2020.  I continued with Artist Interviews in September of 2020. That suggestion came from a website listing art blog ideas.

Smudgy the Cat from
PawsWithCause

Of late, my inspiration comes from baseball, shelter animals, teaching art to multiple age groups, art museums, and travel. When I visit new cities, I keep an eye out for local art such as sculptures and murals. Movies and other media also provide interest when I see art displayed in scenery, actors playing famous artists, or stolen artwork in the newspaper. It's fun to include Art in the News as part of my monthly elementary school lessons.

Vase of Peonies on a
Small Pedestal (1864),
Édouard Manet

Following the art docent model of the Interurban Center for the Arts, I always include an inspirational work by a famous artist from which to pull an art concept, element, or principle of art. For example, I would use Jackson Pollock for a lesson about LINE. And for Positive-Negative Space I will always turn to Édouard Manet.

Two Crabs (1889), Vincent Van Gogh

My family, friends, and colleagues encourage me to do more art. Museums are always stimulating, especially when I discover another Van Gogh painting or see a Rembrandt in person! Flemish artist, Peter Paul Rubens heavily influenced both artists. Van Gogh was also influenced by his friend, Paul Gauguin, who encouraged him to paint from his imagination, French realist Jean-François Millet, other Impressionists, and Japanese art. Van Gogh painted Two Crabs in 1889 as an experiment in complementary colors inspired by the color theory of Eugène Delacroix.

In May of 2017, I saw it hanging in The National Gallery in London's Trafalgar Square.

Emily's Chicken

I wonder if PawsWithCause resident artist, Emily, was inspired by Van Gogh's crabs. Here is her portrait of a chicken in a very similar contrasting color scheme. Amazing! And I love the brushstrokes!!

My Charcuterie Board (2022)

Taking art classes and exploring new mediums and techniques instigates new hobbies and adds to your toolbox. I especially enjoyed learning the art of wood burning when my daughter and I took a class to decorate charcuterie boards. The recent COVID pandemic prompted me to engage in teaching online classes with Heart Art Healing and their Circle of Love. I've also been moved by family members requesting me to teach art to homeschoolers. And while looking for classroom spaces to teach such groups I was asked to teach art at a city-sponsored Summer camp.

Judy's Family Portrait Collage (2019)

I think the students that inspire me the most are other seniors. While I am amazed at the existing talent of senior citizens, I am happy to see the less confident ones discover talent they weren't aware they had. This is why I teach at Franke Tobey Jones Senior University in Tacoma. It's almost always the same group of 12-15 artists, some who are painters, a quilter, and several novices, all of whom bring their enthusiasm to my classes. My Collage Portraits with Seniors class was particularly successful!

PushMePullYou from Dr. Dolittle (1967)

Inspiration is different than motivation. Some say that inspiration is a 'pull' while motivation is a 'push'. Inspiration is typically an internal, mental or emotional influence to do something creative. Motivation is more of a process of external stimulation with definite actions designed to achieve a goal. For example, weight loss could be a goal motivated or prescribed by a doctor to make a person healthier. The inspiration could be imagining yourself in a bathing suit or noticing the successful weight loss journey of another person. It may inspire you to think of creative ways to cook meals and make healthier choices.

My own motivation to do art is to inspire others to do it. My goal is to write in my blog every two weeks, to keep it interesting, and to get comments as a way of improving it or gauging its success. My hope is that my writing inspires others to be more creative, recognize and appreciate creativity in themselves and others, and feel good looking at, doing, or talking about art.

So, what inspires you? Creativity comes from the inside although it is often sparked by an outside stimulus.

Observation gives us the opportunity to realize and gain creative insight. Hopefully, this blog will inspire you to put forth the effort and provide you with the means, energy and enthusiasm needed to dedicate yourself to reaping your own artistic rewards.