Finding and Integrating Inspiration

Hello. I'm back from one sweaty summer break.

A good chunk of my break was in Italy with my Tuscany Drawing Retreat.
We drew. We ate. We drank. We avoided Covid (mostly). It was a delight.

I was given the gift of childcare on this trip, so I took the opportunity to do a lot of re-fueling sans my little man. I made time to draw. I read. I went to a lot of churches. I met the original she-wolf (she did not disappoint) and I taught in person, which I love.

I realized how overdue I was for this kind of re-fueling. During the 3 years of the pandemic (in the middle of which, I had a kid) re-charging felt nearly impossible. It seemed to happen in micro-doses — little chunks of time where I was able to squeeze in a walk, some reading, or some studio time. Each fueling session felt urgent, like it would only last me a few days before I needed another dose. My "creative well" was being maintained at a functioning level vs. being filled up all the way, leaving me with reserves.

My Italy trip did the trick. I soaked up everything Italy had to offer. I feel re-charged creatively. And now, being back in the studio, I know what I need to do next.

Knowing how to find and integrate inspiration is a challenge for most of us.

It hasn't always been easy for me. It's taken me MANY years to figure out how to identify the fuel I need in a particular moment and how to let that fuel shape my art.

So, how do we find deeper, more impactful inspiration?
More importantly, how do we let that inspiration shape our creative work?

In my experience, finding inspiration is a three part problem:

1. We need to know what really excites us and why.
2. We need to know where to find it.
3. We need to know what to do with that inspiration when we find it.


If you're struggling with this, here's a guide to get you started. I've included my own answers to help illustrate how it can work:


1. What fills you up?
A: Walking in nature, seeing art, teaching, traveling in Italy.


2. Of those things, which has the biggest impact on you and why?
A: Italy. Because it connects me to history. Because it's wild and beautiful. Because it's a birthplace of image-making.


3. What does that fuel make you think about?
A: How having access to beautiful architecture every day for free (i.e. churches) can pull you out of the hum-drum of daily life.
How women were depicted in classical art - as mothers, as gods, as slaves, as warriors, as monsters.


4. What resources could deepen that investigation (i.e. your next steps)?
A: Maybe revisiting the pics from my Italy trip?
Maybe digging into some Greek and Roman mythology at the library?
Maybe asking my art historian buddy Grace some questions?


Now for the tricky part....


5. Use your play strategy.

A: Ok, my play strategies are drawing from observation and collage, so my actions could be:

- Make drawings based on photos from my Italy trip.
- Re-create the Greek/Roman myths I researched.
- Use collage to re-invent Italian architecture.


Make sense?
Be honest. Go deep. Find resources. Play in a way that feels natural to you.