Botanical Inspiration

Achillea Terracotta

Bleeding Heart

Aquilegia Vulgaris

Gossypillium Hirsutum

Salix Fragilis

Sanguisorba Officinalis Tanna

Willow Herb Seed Head

Thalictrum Delavayi

Cotinus Coggygria

In a spare half hour earlier this week, I decided I would spend those golden minutes at the library. I originally intended on sketching for that time, but instead I picked up a hefty wodge of books and got a bit lost in them. Actually, I think my little trip turned out quite well, as its provided me with a new wave of inspiration.

Pin It!

Have you ever heard of Pinterest? I hadn’t heard of it until a couple of weeks ago and I’m getting on with it quite nicely. I thought it might be another one of those sites where the novelty would wear off after a while, but it doesn’t seem so. Its a lovely site to collect visuals to, like pinning things up on a pin board at home, except its online, where I imagine like myself, alot of people also spend their time online, therefore being quite useful.

Its a pleasure to share with people. However, I’m finding its nicer to reflect back on what you’ve been collecting. I saw a pattern forming early on of the things which inspire me. Feel free to take a look at my Pinterest Board.

You could also visit my Pinterest board by clicking the link on the sidebar.

 

e·phem·er·a ~ things that exist for only a short time

A couple of weekends ago, we went to The Ephemera Fair in Birmingham at the National Motorcycle Museum. I don’t know how I came across something of this nature was going down. Probably one of my useless six hour interweb surfing sessions earlier this year. Which as it goes, didn’t turn out to be useless, because The Ephemera Fair was like being in old-smelly-paper heaven. It was crammed full to the door (besides a large proportion of silver surfers) of vintage books, postcards, tickets, magazines, newspapers. You name it. Anything recording something on paper pre-1980, could probably be found here. Beyond the musty aroma wafting through the air, I came across some really quite lovely things. And I purchased them. The thought did cross my mind at the time that I was literally paying for an old pointless bit of paper. However, when emotion gets in the way, and your eyes become the size of traffic lights caused by having the aesthetic-appreciation part of your brain tickled, that doesn’t matter. I fell in love.

Magazine insert advertising ’Lux Soap Powder’. Colour lithograph by artist Will Owen (1869 – 1957) – Circa 1915 (Source – The Bridgeman Art Library)

Show & Tell

In the run up to leaving my job, I became even more lost in my world of thoughts and fears. I was exhilarated, excited, weightless yet slightly fearful. Eight years at the same place, at the age of 31 is a fair amount of time to have worked in one place. A huge amount of change had happened to me in that time. One husband. Two children. Three houses.

The end of a chapter was closing and I felt the urge to record this via the old fashioned medium of pen and paper. I got scribbling. Half way through, I decided I wanted to donate my sketch to some of my work friends, as a little token of something to remember me by. Or rip up.

It was a page of doodles. Little sayings. Little thoughts. Some things I already do. Some things I would like to do. Y’know, rules to live my life by, life’s little instructions. I think the people I gave them to liked them. They said they did. Secretly, they probably think I’m a right weirdy.  A try-hard hippie.

And for the second part of today’s Show & Tell, I also picked up a flyer from the nursery the children go to, advertising the Magical Menagerie, as part of the IF: Milton Keynes International Festival.  Originally commissioned in 2008 by the French newtown of Sénart, The Magical Menagerie – or Le Manège Carré Sénart - has toured through Europe including Spain, Portugal and Belgium, charming visitors with its mechanical herds of strange beasts from exotic fish and brightly coloured insects to oversized buffalos.

The flyer caught my eye, not only because it winked at me, but also because of the style of illustration. Its the epitomy of French Art-Nouveau, so nicely created. It’s even got an old grainy tea-stained back drop.

Stumbling upon treasure & where are you, my friend?

I am addicted to surfing the internet. I know I’m not on my own, people. I love it but sometimes I resent it. Purely for the reason that I don’t get anything done. Like tonight, for example. I sat down, to write a post about asking you to let me know where you are in the world. That post hasn’t been written, because I’ve just been trawling through an eclectic mixture of  sweet, sweet websites. And now I’m writing about something totally unintended. But that’s ok.

Plus, I should be in bed. I promised myself I would finish my book tonight, so that I can start my new book club book, A Gate At The Stairs by  Lorrie Moore. ( I know. I am actually, like, in a book club. Made up of two whole people. Ahem.)

Anyways, one new diamond in the rough I in particular, which I wanted to mention is Cathe Holden’s Just Something I Made. What a clever, clever lady. There are so many thing to look at on her site, I think I’ll be here till Monday.  Her studio is my studio in 2 years. It is exactly as I see it. The stuff she collects is the stuff I collect and want to collect more of. Its quite uncanny. (Or is it?)

It’s one of those kinds of studios where everything collected has a special memory, a romantic connection. It’s what you would see if you could delve into the depths of the left side of this ladys brain. That’s not supposed to be freaky. Right now, I’m a five year old in an old fashioned sweet shop. I can’t believe my luck.

Ok, so I may aswell combine this post with the one I was actually supposed to be writing, which was to encourage you to leave me a comment on this site, letting me know where you’re checking in from. I’m really curious to know. And even more curious, because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I have a little map thingy to the bottom right of the screen, called MapClustr, which tells you and I where my web hits are coming from. I’m 1) surprised 2) totally flattered to see that I have visitors as far away as Japan. How cool is that? Thank you whoever you are for visiting. It truly excites me when I login to my little stats screen. I don’t know who you are, I don’t know exactly where you are, its all very vague right now. But if you have a spare second, I’d love it if you dropped me a line using the comment box at the end of this post, telling me your town, county and country where you live. Maybe even how you came across my site if you like. If not, no sweat. It’s just a bit of fun. (I’m smiling)

Ok, well, I’ll hopefully see you soon. Nighty night.

Inspire. Motivate. Stimulate. Push. Propel. Or stagnate.

Following on from my last post (where I ranted a little. Again. I really didn’t want to have to do that but selfishly, it helped. It really did), the next step of getting myself back in the game is to stick a bit of tinder on the flame. Y’know. I have the spark, its there, but nothing’s smoking yet. So where do I get me some dry, mossy, combustibles from? The question I really want to ask is how do you stay motivated without burning out? (I’m dropping the fire analogies now.)

For the past few weeks, my creative spark has gone astray. I can get it back, I know its not dissolved completely, like a sugar cube suspended in hot, milky coffee. Or. Oh yea, I know. Or, or, or like a McVities Digestive held too long in a cup of tea. (Good one, Vic. Hi-5 atcha). The problem lies in having the motivation to start doing something again. I mean, I’ve had other stuff to focus on. Leaving my job, being one of them. The other kind of major thing is our house renovation. We moved out of our home six months ago and its nearly time to go back. Its not been easy. Oh, and one more thing, my two babies. Yeeeeeah. They kind of wear me out, if I’m honest. So, there, on a plate, are my excuses. Do you buy them? I don’t. I don’t think there are any excuses really. If you’re creative, you’re creative. There’s no getting away from it. I’ve just been lazy. But then, even that doesn’t make sense. If you’re intrinsically creative, you still find ways of expressing yourself, right? Someone out there help me, cos I’m really beating myself up about this. I call myself a creative person, but I feel like a fraud. I started this blog a few months ago on the right foot. I maintained it, I managed to post reguarly. I thought I was past the novelty stage, and as it turns out, maybe I wasn’t. Or maybe, I should just shut up, and move on. I mean, this isn’t my full time job. This isn’t  how I make my living. Its something I do when I have a little bit of spare time. Writing it out like this, makes me realise that I crave for this to be my full time job. I mean, I kind of knew that already. (I can hear my husband in my ear now ‘Its a hobby. If you turn it into your job, it’ll take the enjoyment out of it). I don’t have time for it to be my full time job right now, but eventually, it will be. You know that already, right? Because I wrote about it a few months ago. I know. I’m boring. I talk about the same old thing. Blah Blah Blah.

One other preoccupation I would like to share, is that I would probably describe myself as a person of extremes. When I focus on something, I can’t give it up. I can’t go to bed at night, without dreaming about it. And the extreme at the moment is fitness. When I do make time for myself right now, its to run. Or do yoga. Or some lunges. I mean, its a perfect time of year to do that, and if I’m honest, I think I’d rather be outside enjoying our long evenings, saying hi to all the birdies in the hedges as I wallop past like the BFG in flippers, than sat under the dark stairs at a warm-buzzing-electrical fun box. Its refreshing, mind-clearing and truly liberating. I don’t have to talk to anyone, justify myself, or even think if I don’t want to. Its just me and the beats of the BEP’s.

Back to the point I was trying to make, or rather the question I wanted to ask you. I’m going to open it up to you, my fellow blog friends. How do you stay motivated and consistent without experiencing burnout? I am genuinely curious to find out if I’m on my own here. You can send me your tips or just comment by filling in the comments box at the end of this post. Go on, help an old girl out.

Some nice things to look at on a Friday

I stumbled across some images I’ve been keeping on my computer. I kept them because I liked them and thought I would use them in moments where I’m struggling to come up with something original. The reality is I haven’t looked at them since I stored them away. Some use that theory was. So, instead, I share with you. Voilà.

I don’t know where I got this image from, but I love it. So simple. If someone reading this knows, please get in touch so I can reference them.

A beautiful antique Victorian calling card design. Amazing penmanship.

I think I came across this when I was looking for inspiration for designing my Lovebird logo. Again, sorry for not referencing the source but if anyone can help out on this, please let me know.

Dreamy Sonoma County in Northern California. Mother to the Mayacamas Mountains and the Sonoma Mountains. I would give my big toe to be bouncing along on a bench seat of an old Chevy pickup, windows down, picnic on board. Yes please.

In my musing of late…

Since I started my blog (last week), I’ve been conscious that I need to carefully contemplate my next entry. It needs to be something worth writing about, and more importantly, something worth reading about.

As I wrote last week, for me, this blog is a personal, visual history. An online journal of the things I see, which inspire me and push me to try harder.

So here we go. Here is a very small snippet of a few morsels I find inspiring.

Come on. Follow me into my world…..

In my hunt for props for some photos I need taking, I came across these mini airmail envelopes. Whatever happened to airmail letters? Bring them back, I say!

Circus posters are a thing of the past, and unlike airmail envelopes, will probably stay that way. Shame really. I’m curious to see what someone looks like swallowing an electric light.

Moleskine. The legendary notebook. Used by late, great thinkers and current artists alike. Perfect for capturing moments of penned inspiration. I especially love these Google Street View sketches by Lehell Kolehel. Clever person.

With a sly nod to the forthcoming day celebrating all things heart-shaped, I stumbled upon this little gem on one of my favourite websites Three Potato Four. Quite delightful.

Although, personally I would prefer an imprint of the lips on my lips, rather than on a piece of card.

Joy The Baker. There’s a reason she’s called Joy. Yep, you guessed it. Visit her here to satisfy your sweet cravings.

The colours, the font….hand painted twisty lettering. The seaside memories come surging back. Love it.

These personalised signs are crafted by those talented people at Three Potato Four, to hang stylishly wherever you wish to place them.

Oh, go on then. One more before the weekend….

This book first caught my eye on the website **Happiness Is…**. It was given a good review on this site, so I bought myself a copy (a used one, of course….reduce, reuse, recycle and all that) and I, too, am hooked. The only problem is, with two little people under 4 to run around after, one of which seems to survive on irregular amounts of sleep, my eyes don’t stay open long enough to read more than one page at a time. At this rate, I’ll finish it in…..ooh…say….5 years?