Monday 8 June 2009

Inspiration.


Reading Seth Apter's post (The Altered Page - see my blog list) about Inspiration Boards, prompted me to post mine for you to look at.
Creative work of any kind is interesting. I have periods when I do textile work, periods when I practise the piano every day, periods when I garden (although as my muscles get older this is more difficult) and - blogging of course - well I try to do that every day. And there's the rub. I can't spend more than an hour or so on the computer because I get too stiff and achy, but thinking what to put on my blog, sketching it out, taking photographs for it - all that lovely creative work just about fills my creative urges.
But, nevertheless, I do have an inspiration board in my study. This is in addition to the beautiful view which is an inspiration in itself. My board has some nostalgic things on it (like the old postcard which my mother sent to her parents from a holiday at the seaside in 1918.) It has a card of oyster catchers, one of my favourite birds, and a couple of pictures of hares. Then there are bits and pieces to remind me of various textile techniques.
Seths Inspiration Board is much bigger and looks so interesting - wish I could see it for real - I might get inspiration from it.
Do you have an Inspiration Board - or a Reminder Board? If so, why not let us all have a look at it? If not, why not start one - you will be surprised how it inspires.

27 comments:

Heather said...

Your inspiration board has some lovely images on it. I too saw Seth's blog and left a comment. I have three boards which are almost hidden by 'stuff'. No wonder I get stuck for inspiration sometimes.

Leenie said...

Just use the ol' fridge front and magnets. Yours is much better.

Jinksy said...

Your board is interesting. I think I'm always surrounded with so many alternative creative things, that one board would never be enough! Instead, I live in the midst of multiple choice...

Unknown said...

Hello Weaver,

I don't have a board but did collect images from magazines years ago to remind me of room styles and colours that I kept in a scrapbook. Collecting the inspiration would be easy. Doing something about them is another matter! Love your new header collage.

Michala Gyetvai (Kayla coo) said...

I always use my sketch book and stick all sorts of different things in it.
I wish I had room for a board like yours,how lovely to have such treasured family items on display.

gleaner said...

I have thought about a visual board and your post may prompt me to start one. I'm more into lists and quotes on the fridge, in my diary and on scraps of paper. I like your board, abstract and conducive to imaginations (forgive my assumption of its abstractness, but compared to some boards which have pictures of cars and houses, its abstract)

Seth said...

Great board here. Glad you posted it. I really love all the colors in the pieces.

Babette Fraser Hale said...

I keep touchstones around at all my desks, but I have never arranged them in a board. What a good idea! I know what you mean about stiff and achy after sitting at the computer a while. I tend to do so five or six hours a day and swim to unknot myself. It doesn't improve with time, does it? I have a very difficult time gardening, too, and attempt to use tools on the ends of poles to accomplish what I once did on my knees.

Amy said...

That's really great, I've never thought of doing one but I might just put one together now :-)

Anonymous said...

Oh Weaver, this made be laugh.I had just this sort of large inspiration board propped up against the wall on my desk, as we weren't allowed to put anything on the walls for fear of "marking it" it in a property we rented. I was mucking around with it one day when it slipped and made big scratching marks on the wall.My dream would be to potter in a huge study made of yards of walls you could pin things into!

Kim Palmer said...

Popped in from Seth's blog to look and glad I did. Love the hares sketch at the top. It's always nice to see what inspires others. Thanks for sharing yours!

Eleanor said...

An inspiration board is a lovely idea. I like the visual aspect. I keep a notebook next to my PC and jot down ideas. Yes, blogging gives me stiff neck muscles too. Once one starts, it's hard to stop.

Caterina Giglio said...

your images are wonderful and colorful and I love the way you hang them outside the edge of the board, like coloring outside the lines!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Heather - I think you are right - one can have too many points of inspiration.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Leenie - dare I say that my fridge is covered too!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Jinksy - multiple choice makes me nervous - I need to be focussed more than that.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Derrick - glad you like the new header - I read on somebody's blog that you could do a collage on Picasa so spent three hours figuring out how to do it!!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Kayla coo - I wish my drawing and painting skills were good enough to keep a sketch book., One or two of the top notch embroiderers (e.g. Jean Littlejohn and Jan Beaney) have the most wonderful sketch books which are works of art in themselves.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Gleaner - the "abstract" ones are bits of sewing that I have done experimentally and don't want to forget.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks Seth - wish it inspired me as much as yours does!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Bdogs - it is called "getting old"

The Weaver of Grass said...

Hope you manage it Amy. Thanks for visiting.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Isn't that everybody's dream Pam?

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks for visiting, Kim. Shall call on you soon.
Hares are my favourites. The top picture of the two hares running is a card of a felt picture made by a local artist Andrea Hunter of Focus on Felt. She may well have a web site where you could see more of her work.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks for the comments Eleanor - it is good to know there are others suffering too!!

The Weaver of Grass said...

La Dolce Vita - thanks for the visit. Hadn't thought of my board in those terms before.

Red Clover said...

How fascinating! Growing up I always had a board where I would put drawings, maps, flags, dried flowers, whatever caught my fancy. I believe I had one all the way through university (which ended up being a wall by then) but since I've been married my inspiration has been all boxed and booked up. Maybe that's why chapter seven is coming so slow for me these days...

I'll have to put one together again, and see what comes into play, be they new or old ideas.
(I did just found a 1920s underwood typewriter in perfect condition! That has been providing me with plenty of inspiration, and I've had to comfort Kip by telling him that I do love him more than my new typewriter. It inspired me with all those "clickity clacks", and in my first poem written on the thing I used the word "clang". It seemed to fit.)