I have added some new images to the photo albums. I scanned pages from my sketchbooks too. I always love to see artists sketchbooks and studios,don't you? I also really like to hear about what motivates an artist to create. See Sharon's blog for a wonderful post on her creative catalyst (I only wish I could write like her, she has a gift:).For me it is color, pattern, history,nature and beauty.As a designer and artist I am always tearing things out of magazines, purchasing greeting cards,post cards, buying swatches of fabrics, wrapping paper, taking photos of nature and patterns, buying old books and ephemera and basically accumulating a lot of stuff! Since I recently started designing for the scrapbook industry my accumulation of those products has grown too, lol. There are so many beautiful papers and embellishments out there now (have you seen Basic Grey's new Urban Couture Collection now that is some cool paper, looks like something you would buy in Anthropologie) I go through periods when I am really good about assimilating my little treasures of inspiration into my sketchbooks, it can almost be an obsession. It is so fun to go through my piles and juxtapose elements together, add a little paint and some stitching and FOIL (more on that later) I do so many little texture and painting samples and never throw away my paintings or sketches that are "rejects" I save them and paste them in my book. It is good to have these idea books and piles of stuff to go through when I am having an artist block. I have been so busy trying to make deadlines lately and I feel my work is suffering and has lost some of its original "heart". I think I need to get back into doing more of these little daily collages just for fun. What inspires you? and how do you get motivated to use your creativity?
ok, I am speechless...and that takes a lot to happen! Christine, I just looked through your sketchbook......speechless...it is a masterpiece...each and every page in that book! Wow...I just want to come over and curl up in a wicker chair by a big window and look through your book, to touch the little fabric pieces, see the detail in your painting, drawings...AMAZING!
Posted by: Melodee | February 10, 2006 at 06:48 AM
Wow. I second everything said by Melodee. Your sketbook is amazing indeed! I enjoyed every page! Can't wait to see it again and again! It's absolutely gorgeous! Thank you so much for sharing.
Posted by: Maria | February 11, 2006 at 08:31 AM