Happy Sunday friends! Today is the last day of January, and I am ready for February! We had a lot of snow this morning in Ohio (about 4-5 inches and it is STILL snowing!). My daughters played outside almost the entire day and it was amazing! Now everyone is back inside, cozy and by the fire.

Besides playing out in the snow this weekend, I have been brainstorming lots of ideas for new paintings. It has been super fun and exciting.

How to Find Inspiration

I am so inspired right now and I want to share with you a couple different ways to come up with new ideas in case you are feeling stuck and uninspired. Trust me I go through these moments also.

5 Ideas that work for getting inspired

This is what I do to find inspiration and it really works. I hope it helps you to find inspiration for your next artwork.

1. Look through books and magazines.

   I LOVE to look through all kinds of books. Art books, photography books, books on gardening, magazines, etc. I have found that I sometimes get my best ideas from books. I usually will take pictures of the ideas I like best and create a file on my phone. Yes you could look online at images for inspiration but there is something about looking through an old vintage book or magazine that really inspires me. I have a collection of 1950’s National Geographic magazines at my classroom at school and I love to look through these for new ideas. I often tell my students who have no idea what to do to look through my eclectic collection of books at school. Often times it really helps.

2. Put a couple of your artworks together (sketchbooks, finished pieces…whatever you have) and look at them all together.

   Sometimes you will be able to see what the next piece could be to add to this series. I love looking at my work all together because often it tells a story and allows you to see the colors, ideas, that are unique and similar within the art. This has been one of the best ways for me to see what I need to add to a series and also if I am stuck on a painting, if I put it with some other finished paintings I am able to get a clearer idea of what I could add to it and where I need to go next with my paintings.

3. Create a mood board collage of art images.

   This is kind of similar to looking through books. Go through magazines and cut out anything that you love. Don’t ask questions, just whatever images jump out at you, cut out and glue or tape to a piece of paper or in your sketchbook. After collecting the images what do you notice? Similar colors? Similar subjects? Anything surprising such as you seem to have cut out all blue and white colors and you are painting in reds and yellows? This is a great exercise to figure out what truly speaks to you and also will point you to the direction where your art might want and need to go. A couple of years ago I was painting very realistically and hating everything I was painting. I did this exercise and noticed almost everything I cut out was soft, pastel colors with lots of blue and white. I completely changed my color palette to match the colors of my images I cut out and it was a game changer. I had been using colors I did not like at all so of course I was not happy with my art!

4. Work in your sketchbook and just paint or draw whatever inspires you.

   Look through your personal photos for ideas for inspiration. What do you have a lot of pictures of on your phone? I have so many landscapes, flowers and sailboats. I am constantly playing around with my favorite subject matter and trying to come up with new compositions and pairings in my sketchbook. Think about doing a daily painting challenge. This by far has been the best way for me to get ideas. Painting something everyday has been the most effective way I have figured out ideas and discovered my personal style. If you have not tried it yet, I highly recommend it!

5. Look at the old masters.

   Sometimes when I feel totally lost on what to do, I look at some of my favorite paintings by Vincent van Gogh , Claude Monet, Fairfield Porter and Henri Matisse. I look at why I like certain paintings and then I begin making color charts of the colors I see in their paintings and look at their subject matter. My latest painting series I am working on is inspired by looking at some of my favorite paintings and thinking of ways to make something my very own but inspired by it. Maybe it is using similar colors in my painting or painting the same subject matter but in my own style. Find out what you love about your favorite painters and figure out a way to make it your own (no copying!)

   Summary and more

   I hope these tips were helpful in helping you come up with ideas for your personal art. My favorite quote of all is “Inspiration does exist but it must find you working,” by Pablo Picasso. This is so true. Some of our best ideas come as we are creating. If you are sitting around waiting for the perfect idea to hit you, it is going to be a long wait. The act of creating in itself is where ideas are born. I often find my best ideas come as I am creating. Also I have noticed that right before a total breakthrough in my art I am creating the worst art ever. You have to get through the bad art to make it to the great art! Check out the video below from Ira Glass (This American Life) about this idea. When I heard this it was a total aha moment!