Finding Inspiration

While I usually don't wait for inspiration to come before I start drawing or painting, there's often a clear  "aha" moment somewhere in the process. 

When I create something -it can be song, a painting, a story- there has to be an idea, some kind of spark to get started.

Inspiration can come while I'm alone or in a room full of people. It can be anything really. Something somebody said,  a look or pose, the branches of a tree, an abstract pattern.

When I'm lost for ideas, taking an "artistic break" from working always helps -especially when I've been struggling to get it right.

I like walking around the neighborhood with a camera, or driving around at night with a pile of CD's on the passengers seat (that's my old 1953 Buick there on the picture).

A break put things in perspective, I get a distance from the work and suddenly I know which direction to take. 

Van Gogh Drawings

I found these two prints of van Gogh drawings in an used&antique store. I spotted them the moment I walked in the door. The drawings are professionally framed by O.M. Knudsen in Oslo.

On the back there are labels that say in Dutch and English:

Arenlezende Boerin, 1885, Woman Gleaning

Maaiende Boer, 1885, Peasant Reaping Corn

Inspiration from old newspapers

Today, while re-decorating the house, I found out that our bathroom walls are insulated with newspaper! Old newspapers from the year 1966 and 1967.

I spent the whole afternoon sitting on the floor with a scissor, cutting out inspiring 'retro-style' advertisements and cartoons...