My Creative Process: Inspiration in Surroundings
Julie posed some very interesting questions in reply to my peek at secret knitting I used for Eye Candy Friday last week. In general, she is curious about my creative process. So, I believe today will be first in a roughly weekly series about my creative process. She started me off with a few questions, but I am certain receptive to answering addition ones. If you have any questions about my creative or design process please feel free to ask them in the comments below.
Oddly, I’m setting myself up to answer one of the more complex topics of the creative process, inspiration. For me, inspiration comes from a wide variety of sources. In general I suppose I can sum it up as just being hyper aware of my surroundings; especially noticing patterns and textures in the world around me. This is a trait I’m pretty certain I’ve always had. It was this natural attention to detail and observation that had me going into a scientific field in my first career.
This trait of analyzing my surroundings is one that has only grown as I’ve aged. As a mixed media artist I liked to be inspired by colors around me and now as a photographer I find myself always analyzing composition and relationships of neighboring items, which includes noting patterns. The more you observe your surroundings the more it becomes second nature and the more critical you become.
Some of my designs have been inspired by nature and terrain, like Spearfish, Coyote Ridge and Flatiron. Others were inspired by a pattern I saw like Netherfield and Longborn (even though the color choice that was made for the book really didn’t fit the name/inspiration) which were designed after noting the wallpaper pattern in the dinning room of Longbourn in the 1996 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. The Moxie hat and mitten set were inspired by an art deco rug I saw somewhere.
My surroundings aren’t my only source of inspiration. Different things can move me at different times. But, I’ll save those for another post another week.
What about you, have you been inspired by your surrounds?
