Where I find inspiration

My hands are itching to create.

Creativity comes in surges for me, and sometimes I go through horrible lulls. I had been going through one of these "dry" times a short while ago. Then I forced myself to complete small little nothings, doodles and sketches that wouldn't take more than 15 minutes. All of a sudden my mind started going a million miles. Today, I realized that I'm in full swing, adding more projects to my little book then I can get to.

But how to decide what to draw (or what to sew, to write, to create) at that point when you feel like you have to force yourself? Go for something easy, with no-pressure, and don't fret if you don't like the results. It's the act of doing it that will help, not the final product.

For themes, there are always prompts and challenges, like the Sketchbook Challenge, Illustration Friday, the A-Z challenge, Communal Global, and Texture Tuesday, among may others that give you the option of posting in groups and visiting other blogs participating.

But for me there's another place where I can almost always count on getting inspiration: books.

I'm a visual reader. I mean, as I read I vividly see the scenes in my mind. Stories associate themselves to images, as well as touch sensations, smells, and tastes. For example, The Turn of the Screw forever makes me feel feverish and brings up the color white to mind.

All it takes are a few lines of a poem sometimes (or a full one like this):

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Are you-- Nobody--too?

Then there's a pair of us!

Don't tell! they'd banish us --you know!

How dreary --to be--Somebody!

How public--like a Frog--

To tell your name--the livelong June--

To an admiring Bog!

                              Emily Dickinson

(In this age of social media and reality tv with so many people shouting for attention and fame, this poem really speaks to me)

That poem inspired this super simple (and not so good) colored pencil drawing:

Although the final image flopped, it got me doing something, putting my pencils on paper.

I'm sharing all this because I think we all go through times where our creativity and motivation seem to move to some dark corner where we can't find it no matter what. I wanted to share a couple of strategies or ideas I've used successfully to force it out of its hiding place. I hope it's helpful to some of you.

Where do you draw your inspiration?

Gardening }{ Texture Tuesdays

Partake as doth the bee

Abstemiously.

The Rose is an Estate -

In Sicily.

Emily Dickinson

Gardening was the theme for today's Texture Tuesday's challenge.

small flowers from one of our flower beds

• start with original and minor adjustments
• background copy desaturated -25%  on luminosity @70%
• gaussian blur on background copy
• Kim Klassen's "stained linen" on multiply @26%
• layer mask to erase the texture over the flower
• Kim Klassen's "warm sun" on soft light @80%

N. playing with one of the flowers we picked

• original with minor adjustments
• convert background copy to BW on lighten @30%
• Kim Klassen's "warm sun" on linear burn @26%
• Kim Klassen's "love" on luminosity @26%

These were my attempts at minimalist, simple photos involving our garden.

I'm not an orderly person. If you see my crafting areas, things are a bit... disorganized. Still, there's a side of me that likes everything in order, neat, absolutely logical. When I get around to organizing my closet, about once every month, it has to be done just so - sleeveless shirts, short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, button down shirts, jackets and cardigans, sweaters, skirts, pants, cocktail dresses, business suits and dresses, and finally a few formal pieces I still have; and within each of these categories, they have to follow a progression of light colors to dark colors; and they all have to face the same way.

Back to gardening. Like me, my garden is messy and orderly all at once. Flowers follow a color based distribution, the spaces between them having been measured, trying to achieve a balance and order in quantity and shades. And yet, there are spots with overgrown grass, weeds that I never get around to pulling out. How do you reconcile all of this?

Lately, my organized side has been winning the battle. I've been in full "simplify" mode, getting rid of clutter, donating old clothes, shoes, toys, packing away things I don't need for a while but that I'll take when we move. 

This has been a long post for a photography based challenge. My apologies. Like my house, I'm trying to get words out, de-cluttering my thoughts. 

ps.: in case you are wondering what's with the quoted poems lately, I've been in the mood for poetry, revisiting a lot of my old favorites.