What inspires you?

Blue Ridge Mountains

What inspires an artist to create the works that they do?  For many, it is personal and as close to them as their own back yard.  For others it may be distant lands or the change of season in the mountains.  I've asked our members to share with us what inspires them.   Lee of OneClayBead finds inspiration in the Blue Ridge Mountains, her backyard, and white water rafting.

"Each day I spend some time here, and a novel of activity unfolds. The squirrels are planning a new assault on the squirrel proof bird feeders. The crows comment with their "haw, haw,haw." Butterflies, newly born, land in my hair and on my arms. If I am very still, a raccoon sometimes climbs on the picnic table bench and suns himself beside me, almost touching my bare thigh.

In fall, tourists from around the world converge on Asheville to gawk at the foliage. I saw a family from India, huddling close for snapshots, saris as bright as the turning leaves. I saw two city girls clutching bouquets of gathered leaves as if they were expensive Tiffany jewels."

"The river gurgles, bends, demands one's attention to rocks of impending danger or white egrets by the banks. I lose myself in fun and unspoiled beauty every time.

My pottery flows from the place where I have immersed myself in the natural world around me. I lose myself in nature as something wondrous and filled with awe emerges. The pleasure for my customers is in owning a piece of lasting whimsy or beauty, and the pleasure for me is having the stream of petty complaints in my head melt away."

For SarahJohnAfana inspiration comes from a visit to her family's hauntingly beautiful almond orchid on their ranch.  From the ocean as well as the energy from an outdoor concert.

BlueTerracotta says: " I'm inspired by trips to my many favorite museums. I like to think I'm just one of many in a long line of artists who throughout the ages have felt the same magic when creating beautiful objects."

And the result of this inspiration?  I visited each shop to pick something that felt related to what these Artisans listed as their inspiration.  For Lee it was obvious with her crows pieces so I looked a little further and found her beautiful Celtic Knot Yunomi (Tea Bowl) in Seafoam and White stoneware pottery.  Seafoam, like the rushing water while rafting; the relationship of clay, earth and water and the meditative quality of gliding down a river.  In looking at Sarah's shop I was drawn to her Dancing Trees; the rich colors and immediate sense of texture shows an intimacy with trees and nature that has me imagining her walking in that almond orchid and feeling the bark, looking at the change of season and getting loads of inspiration.  And over in Laura's (BlueTerracotta) shop I was drawn to this Mosaic Relief of an African Bird.  The shape and personality have an old world feel of a people who communicated what they saw onto their walls and in their sculptures for future generations to 'read'. 

I would like to thank SumikoShop for inspiring ME to do this post.  She wrote a 'Be Inspired' post on her blog last week and I loved it.  

What inspires you?