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?

Close up }{ The Sketchbook Challenge

I'm starting to get some of my energy back. *only some* 

Although that still leaves me with little time to post more often, it does mean that I have the energy to fit in a quick sketch or two into my week. Like this one.

That's N. sleeping

I got inspired by the February sketchbook challenge theme: close up. Drawing faces usually presents a big challenge for me, and I thought the theme would be the perfect excuse to practice drawing at least a portion of a face. Especially the nose........ What is it with noses? I can never get them right. But focusing on just a small part I was able to do better than usual. 

This was the full page of the sketchbook by the way. I didn't use it all, so when I cropped the picture I only kept the actual sketch.

What is your biggest drawing challenge? 

Comfort

According to dictionary.com

com·fort

   [kuhm-fert]  Show IPA

–verb (used with object)

1.

to soothe, console, or reassure; bring cheer to: They tried tocomfort her after her loss.

2.

to make physically comfortable.

3.

Obsolete . to aid; support or encourage.

–noun

4.

relief in affliction; consolation; solace: Her presence was acomfort to him.

5.

a feeling of relief or consolation: Her forgiveness affordedhim great comfort.

6.

a person or thing that gives consolation: She was a greatcomfort to him.

There quite a few things that bring me comfort. Like the steady breathing coming from the sleeping little girl next to me. She passed out tonight, she was that tired. We're at my family's house since we'll be leaving early tomorrow for the beach. But I'll be blogging from there. No break this time.

Something else that brings me comfort - a hot cup of tea or coffee in the morning and afternoon.

What brings you comfort?

Friendly animals

"Nice to mooooooo you"

I've been in the mood for drawing animals - funny ones. Well, I mean, with funny expressions on their faces.

Lately my mind has been going a million miles a minute, and it just won't stop. Even when I'm trying to sleep. So I decided to sketch slightly wired, a bit wide eyed and insomniac animals. Yeah. Nice to moo you.

Ever had to deal with insomnia? How did you get over it?

Soaked }{ Illustration Friday

Trying to catch up. 

This week's prompt for Illustration Friday was "soaked." It's pretty appropriate since we've had nothing but rain lately. I like rain. I like the way the earth smells after it, the cool air that lingers once it's passed, the pitter-patter sounds on the window. I even like thunderstorms, always have. It reminds me of my childhood. The city I grew up in has one of the highest incidences of lightening hits in the world. 

In any case, soaked. This isn't a very original illustration, but it's what I kept going back to. It just seemed the right thing to represent it. 

mechanical pencil on recycled paper

Safari }{ Illustration Fridays

Giraffes to me represent majestic and elegant beauty. Their grace reminds me of ballet dancers. 

So when the prompt for this week's Illustration Friday turned out to be "safari" giraffes were the first thing on my mind. 

I already had a few drawings of giraffes laying around:

sharpie and color pencils 

But I did a new one of course.

Markers and watercolor

And this one has nothing to do with giraffes, or safaris really, except maybe that he's an animal?

graphite

Still, I like my little guy up there. He's stuck.

Urubu

This is an urubu. It's a type of Cathartidae, or vulture.

I'm in the middle of the home stretch for this academic semester, so the A-Z challenge gets what it gets. And today it gets a sketch of a bird whose name starts with a U. Yep.

But you know what? Every creature has its reason and its place. His place may not be pretty or "cute," but it's no less important. So, here's the my urubu sketch, even if he's not cute and seems out of place in this blog.

And just so that today's post isn't so random - go check out my new post at the caffeine coquette, where I talk about making unique cards for Mother's Day.

Love notes and Little feet

Today's post is really about love. Things I like to create for the people I love.

Ok, ok, I know. Mushy, right? It must be Spring.

I made a couple of love notes for my husband, but now I can't decide which to give him. He's not a big "cute" or "pretty" card sort of person. He gets a bit embarrassed when he gets cards from me too. So now I'm thinking both of these might be too girly for him. Eenie meenie miney mo...

And then, there's the little girl... She's adorable all over, but just look at these little feet! 

They absolutely inspire me to sketch some shoes for them.

How do you express your love?

Opposites - real life and fairy tales

February's prompt for the sketchbook challenge was "opposites." It had me stumped. I really didn't know how I wanted to represent opposites. Then today...

Actually let's go back a bit. I've been participating in this online painting class, Get Your Paint On. For this week's assignment, I reinterpreted a scene from a fairy tale and drew this sketch in my sketchbook in preparation.

I liked the idea so much that I've been perusing my complete collection of the original Grimm tales (it's a hefty book with lots of inspiration). I was doing exactly that in the cafe while taking a break from real job related work (oops!) when I noticed a man. 

I couldn't help but wonder... And this is what I did.

There’s a man sitting in front of me in the café. He’s carrying lots of plastic bags and I don’t know if he’s homeless or not. He’s wearing a sun hat and a heavy jacket. Is he just keeping himself warm from the cold outside? Does he have anywhere to go? Is he happy? Is he safe? He’s sleeping. It must be nice in here, nicer than anywhere else he has to go? I keep thinking that at one point, this man was someone’s baby. Did he feel loved? Did he know his parents? Did they hold his hand as he took his first steps? I hope he feels loved.

I actually don't think fairy tales and real life are opposites. I think they are pretty close sometimes....

(ETA - the print was hard to read...)

Highly prized - a collection

A couple more sketches in response to the January prompt of the sketchbook challenge - "highly prized."

School and learning:

(this last guy is another student)

An almost leafless tree: (Fall and winter are my favorite seasons of the year) 

As a brief reflection on this blog... I'm surprised at how much sketching I've been sharing here. It's not my best craft, but it seems to be dominating my life right now. I've always liked a challenge I guess. I just didn't imagine the blog would be a place for me to be exposing these sketches to the world! 

Blogs seem to have a life of their own, eh? 

What have you done on your blog that has surprised you? Do share a "surprise" post if you'd like. I'd love to see them.

And thank you everyone for your well wishes and your comments on the fish. Your comments always encourage me.

"It's a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy." - Lucille Ball (quote taken from the incredibly fun silly III class).

A hint of spring colors and a book

I've been in the mood for bright colors. It must be my anticipation of spring, as far as that seems right now (yeah, temperatures were around -7 F, or -22 C today).

So I ordered some fun fabric from the lovely hip fabric shop and it arrived! 

Now I just have to decide what to do with it. I'm thinking possible a sun dress or romper for N. Or maybe some decorative item for the house. So many possibilities...

Speaking of possibilities, one that I hold dear to my heart is that N. will grow up speaking at least three languages. Maybe I should explain why...

Background: My PhD is in Second Language Acquisition (SLA), I was born and raised in Brazil, and my husband is Japanese. So, back to multilingualism.

Besides being a gift that I can give her and that I think could benefit her greatly in the future, it will also help her connect to her grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and a huge extended family in both countries. 

But there's a problem - she's not exposed to either language outside of the house, and that's not enough exposure to make sure she becomes fluent. So we try to find ways to supplement her exposure through books and dvds. It's a lot easier in Japanese, since we can find materials fairly easily in the US compared to Portuguese. 

This long story is my, a-hem, justification for dabbling into making her a book. 

I've decided that to help her Portuguese, I'll just make my own books for her. I've started with a prototype of a character. Meet Ana Maria Abelha (transl. Anne Marie Bee)!

She'll be introducing N. the alphabet in Portuguese and her first adventure is written, just waiting to be illustrated. It'll take me a while with all the other things I'm working on, but this project is close to my heart. It will get done.

Have a lovely week, friends! And do leave me a hello telling me what I could do with that fabric.

Highly Prized sketch

I'm finally posting a sketch for the January prompt of the sketchbook challenge - highly prized.

Sorry about image quality, it was taken with photo booth in the dark.

Yep, both my laptop and some coffee are both highly prized, and they usually go together.

Of course my daughter and my husband are my most highly prized, but I couldn't do them justice sketching. And my books... I may still draw them.

What's your highly prized object?

The fun never stops

The weekend is almost here, and soon after I start working again.

Yeah, I'm actually happy to go back to work. I've enjoyed the break, now it's time to get back to business.

I'll find time to craft, even if it's only a half hour or so everyday. How do you all do it? I like Shona Cole's artful life tips. A bit of creativity everyday = a happier me = a better mom, wife, and worker.

Lately I've been enjoying lots of unravelling and silliness. I highly recommend both. Great way to see yourself in new ways and stretch your creativity through fun and fabulous connections.

Here's a glimpse of what I've been doing:

Looks like fun, right? And it is! So my bit of sunshine for today is: Get involved, go do the creative that you've secretly wanted to try, have fun! It's great for your body, mind, and soul.


What have you tried for fun lately?

Sketching without guilt

Not many words today. Having fun with the little one and thinking about feet.

Did I have a resolution not to be critical of myself? And just have fun sketching without thinking about how they look? If not, I ought to have.

Sketching fellow students

Yep, still at the library... sketching fellow students instead of studying. *sigh*

(sorry about the quality - this was taken with photobooth in the dark corners of a library)