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Inspiring minds

paintbox

This week I have been feeling the need for inspiration for the brain. Scrapbooking for the sake of scrapbooking made me want to revisit things that inspired me when I first started crafting and seek out a few new things that have been on my ‘meaning to do’ list for far too long. I’ve been reading a lot. Catching up on course materials for classes I’m taking in the background. Reading my new camera manual, bit by bit. Learning a little something every day. I think it is that same thing that makes us want to spring clean (I am feeling that too) — little signs of life around that urge us to be a slightly better version of ourselves.

sculpture

Today I was able to split my work load into morning and evening and spent the middle of the day walking around the V&A museum with a friend. I love that you’re allowed to take pictures inside, although the collection at the V&A is so overwhelming at times that it can be hard to know what to photograph. I tried to just pick a few things so I could focus a bit more than coming home with hundreds of shots. It is very much a museum of texture more so than colour (although one particularly amazing example of colour is lit so there is so much light reflecting I couldn’t find a way to catch the colour in an image…so it is resonating in my head a bit instead). Colour is normally what strikes me first in any type of design – be it crafting supplies, photography, advertising or cinema – so to largely take that away and be left with shape and texture seemed to make me think in a different way. I’m totally blabbering now and this is making no sense, right? Forgive me.

piano

Several times we would turn a corner to find ourselves alone in a long, echoing corridor and C would comment ‘This so isn’t a place to visit on your own’. And she was right not only because it is at times a bit too creaky for my liking but also because wandering there with someone else means she will see different things and point out things I would never think about twice.

Also, I think having coffee and catching up on a Wednesday can be quite inspiring in itself.

carving

Can we have a happy chatty, commenty day today (or tomorrow or whenever)? I would love to see or hear about something that is inspiring you lately and making you feel alive. Pardon my ‘spring has sprung and the world is right’ feeling today, but I figure that doesn’t happen every day and I better embrace it when it does. So what have you been reading/watching/listening to/talking about/looking at/eating/otherwise thinking about that is making you feel like there really could be a slightly better version of yourself? Go on, tell us. Pretty please.

xlovesx

11 March 2009



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14 Comments for Inspiring minds

  1. Sarah Says:

    I’ve been thinking about learning how to do quilling. A post on the Scrapbook Inspirations blog knocked me sideways – it showed some absolutely fanatastic designs made with quilling. I have lots of ideas running round in my head on how to use them, and am hoping that I’ll find something appropriate to buy at the Stitch and Craft show :)
    Right now, I’m also thinking of daffodils…

  2. Donna B Says:

    I’m working on a spring show with lots of spring
    music. I’m singing Rainbow
    Connection for my solo, which I know you love. Also working on shows for May and June. Feeling so thankful to God for giving me such a
    wonderful life. Also thinking how lucky I am to have such a very special Granddaughter.

  3. jen Says:

    i have been obsessed with haruki murakami- i have been reading his books non stop and it has been lovely. i am enjoying the feeling of spring in the air, but i am still feeling ever so restless… as i too feel in the air- robins singing have been lovely and last night the moon was quite a sight… oh and lovely friends who write about loveliness in their lives…. that is wonderful- always.

  4. Sandy Says:

    I have just finished & submitted a major assignment – so I’ll be reading the books and watching the DVD’s that have stacked up since I started the course – bliss! Oh, and my tickets to (finally) see Judi Dench on stage have arrived, yippee!

  5. Ani Says:

    I am very sad that i can’t go to see Planet Gong in Camden in May because i am that way inclined and my taste in music is… interesting.
    I noticed today that i have started every book i own and finished 4 in the past 2 years.
    There are no streetlights here, being the epicentre of nowhere, so the moon and stars are bright and kinda effervescent – a word which promts the repetative playing of Barrett.
    And, i seem to have developed someone i have to call ‘the boy’ in public and after a timely phone call i am feeling quite alive and at one with the turning of the world.
    I have rekindled my love for Edward Elgar for so many reasons and have spent that past 2 days doing nothing by writing and listening to music and it has left me feeling very optimistic.
    My untimely and at times very mundane gap year is perhaps working very well. for now.
    Life – she’s Ok, man! That’s what i’ve been thinking. It’s a good thought to think once in a while.

  6. Julie Says:

    I’m in the middle of becoming almost evangelistic about swapping crafting supplies with friends!!! I get so much inspiration from trying to find ways to use unexpected items and things I may never have bought for myself. It’s incredible! Stash-swapping is the way forward …

  7. Claire Says:

    Movies move me!! Ha ha! I was feeling a little blah last night so I set aside some time to watch one of my favourite films ever, The Royal Tenenbaums and oh my goodness, I wish I could paint that movie and hang it on my wall! I find everything about it so utterly perfect and yummy and the colours inside the Tenenbaum house are just delicious…I woke up this morning feeling super happy and refreshed! Schedule some movie time, it is the best thing ever! xoxo

  8. Mariangeles_spain Says:

    Well, I’m not really too inspired lately, not feeling too well…
    but I went on Tuesday to a new scrap store around here and I felt great. It was a sunny afternoon, the owner is so nice and we were chatting a lot!! The store is so inspiring; Basic Grey, Jenny Bowling, My Mind Eyes and Jillybean Soup papers, Hero Arts stamps, lots of Bazzill…

    It was a nice moment for me :o)

  9. Donna Says:

    For me, it’s music. I get lyrics going round in my head and the only way to exorcise them is to create.

  10. vivie Says:

    Strangely enough, I am presently being inspired by aboriginal art. I keep thinking all those dots would make a great scrap page.

  11. Madeline St Onge Says:

    Well we are talking landscaping here in NC. Need yo build a wall and get some topsoil delivered then we can start thinking about planting. A lot of greenery and some splashes of purple, pink and yellow I think

  12. Liza Says:

    I have been the art docent in my sons class. It is amazing to see what these 2nd graders can do. It has also been fun getting to experiment along side of them.

  13. Holly A. Moss Says:

    Amazingly, I am being inspired by the sunshine (shh! don’t say it too loudly – the rain might hear & come back! Although, I get inspired by the rainstorms as well). I live in WA State, so I’m sure you understand my amazement . . . However, it is true about the feel of spring being in the air. I saw a bluejay today & I just really felt hopeful and lighter in my heart and I haven’t felt that way in quite awhile. I took my daughter, dog & husband to the park at the end of my street for some family fun & it really was. I can hardly wait to get the pictures developed. It just felt so good to be outside, even if it was chilly. :)

  14. Kerry Says:

    That looks like a well loved paint palette.

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