Inspired

I am inspired on a daily basis....by nature, by stories of people working so hard to live their best lives, by the stillness of daybreak right before the first light in the houses on my street turns on and the rumbling engines start on the cars that take my neighbors to work.  I took all of this inspiration in this morning as I sat in my art room at 4 am (yes, you read that right) watching the beautiful colors fill the sky.  I was thinking of all the beautiful colors that filled the art studio during the class I took on Sunday with Jennifer Mercede.  The above picture is this morning's sunrise and it reminded me of the colors that I chose for the painting I did during class yesterday (picture below).

(Home Sweet Home, 2012)

I was thinking so much about "Home", which will always be Wisconsin to me, and I had brought a picture of my horse and I from when I was about 14 yrs. old (I will try to scan that in to show you later....the hairdo is a must see....mine, not the horse's).   We used our animal pictures to do a blind contour drawing (looking at the picture while drawing on the board without peeking...but I will admit that I peeked a little).  What I love so much about Jennifer and her work is that you feel this sense of freedom to just be who you are and do what you want to do with your art.  If you want to doodle with a pen, do it.  If you want to draw with markers, do it.  You keep layering until you feel "done".  And "done" is up to you.

So thank you Jennifer for inspiring me to be my playful, messy self and to just let go and have fun!!  I am hoping that a little bit of your inspiration wears off tonight so that I can sleep past 4 am, but if not, oh well, I'll just soak up another sunrise and be thankful for another day.