Snip color palette inspirations from magazines... When visiting my mom there's always a big pile of magazines she's already read through - I love perusing the pages and gathering colors that catch my eye. I bring washi tape and put them in my sketchbook. Clean up studio before leaving so you’re ready to go when you come home! Nothing inspires me more than a workspace that is de-cluttered and ready to go! The goal while I'm away is to keep some creative momentum going and gather visual tidbits that might spark inspiration when I'm back home.
2 Comments
I’ve worked for 20+ years as a Landscape Architect so its no surprise that my art is inspired by the outdoors. Whether I’m running, walking our dogs or working in the garden I am always picking up bits of nature that catch my eye, or snapping pics with my phone - trying to capture anything that makes me stop and gaze. I love the endless supply of design elements that nature can supply…interesting patterns, compositions, energetic organic lines, contrasting textures and color combinations. One of my favorite sources of inspiration is the garden. I treat planting design like 'painting with plants' with broad strokes of color through a field of green. The blooms of the Pink Muhly grass do a great job of this! I take a LOT of pictures throughout spring and summer to call on in winter when I need some color inspiration! A recent favorite palette from the garden is a cool sage green next to a more vibrant yellow green contrasted with a bit of burnt sienna from a branch, or in this case dried Sedum blooms. I also turn to Instagram feeds for inspiration. A current favorite is an interior design feed @enter_my_attic. She posts gorgeous vignettes of minimal spaces. I love her color palettes and modern compositions accented with botanicals. The trick is to then have a gathering place for all the inspo! I started a new Instagram account just for this purpose @inspirationonmyrun. It's my easily accessible bank of images I can dive into when I need inspiration. My sketchbook is another place I keep my keep my findings. Occasionally, when I don’t feel inspired or know what I want to work on I will do some visual ‘cataloguing’ of my gatherings - which usually leads to an idea. FUTURE GOAL: to spend more time reflecting on my gatherings, sketching- not for reality but to spark something new - a way of translating it into something of my own, my own visual language. |
AuthorMy name is Nicole and I am a nature-loving abstract artist. My blog is a record of my process and inspirations that show up in my life. Archives
January 2019
Categories |