ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE INSPIRED BY CHAIRS

Recently everywhere I turn people have been talking about their Dream Boards and other similar things. Now, I don't know much about Pinterest, I already have a Tumblr so why should I set up another similar account when I've already got one, plus 3 sketchbooks I use daily (soon to be 4). But I've heard it is pretty much a Dream Board at least something along those lines. Even Ron Funches on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon says he started using a Dream Board. 

Now to break it down, there are many different types of dream boards or walls or books or whatever. You can put up pictures of things you aspire to own, or you can have pictures of things you just enjoy and inspire you, OR you can have pictures of just literally anything that you find yourself liking (from a rug, to an advertisement)

As an artist I think it is key to surround yourself in what you like and allow it to always be present that way if you ever look at it differently or have it randomly catch your eye, you'll be inspired. I have so many artist prints framed and surrounding me at most times. TIP: I've found that when going to museums it's cheap to pick up a few postcards of your favorite pieces you saw there and use them as art around the house.

But most recently, while looking through an IKEA magazine, I found some things that I was drawn to visually. Yes I also do just want to buy the stuff in the image and decorate my house exactly like how they do, BUT I also found it aesthetically pleasing. Then it hit me, I liked how this particular room was designed because of it's similarity to what I want to do as an artist. The color palette was similar, the lines and it had aspects of it that I needed to put in my work. 

I know it shouldn't be surprising or innovative to think that interior design or the design of a chair or the way that this advertisement is photographed is linked to the fine arts because I mean come on, have you walked around the MoMA? There is a whole section devoted to artistic designs of furniture and I mean their stores alone have everything and anything there but somehow it's artistic... 

What I'm trying to get at is: use your sketchbook, or the walls of your house, or just a bulletin board to put up EVERYTHING you find yourself attracted to, not just the artwork. You never know what will make you see something in your work.

Related Post (with Artist References): http://artotterblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/inspiration-can-come-from-anywhere.html
Here's the Ron Funches video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slrgBNOmhTI

INSPIRATION CAN COME FROM ANYWHERE

I think a lot of artists think that only artistic inspiration is important and that we always must know other artists who are inspiring us. A lot of people think the opposite and that it is important to have other influences like nature. I find that the combination of the two is very important and it shouldn't be a battle of which is more important.

Having a list of artists who influence your work is very crucial to growing and improving. Following big name artists or really any professional artist will allow you to see things within their work that influence your own. For instance, Jenny Saville, an artist who I will talk about later in the month, has a variety of influences one of them being Francis Bacon. So just to see the connection lets compare two of their pieces:

Jenny Saville, Rosetta 2, 2005-6, oil on watercolor paper mounted on board

Francis Bacon, Self Portrait with Injured Eye, 1972

When you first look at the two paintings there are obvious similarities, like portraiture. But going beyond that there are similar ways of how their paint and the colors they use. Both of these artists use colors not necessarily noticed in real skin tones, they're slightly exaggerated. For instance in Saville's Rosetta 2 there are beautiful purples and blues throughout the piece and in Bacon's there are purples, blues, and reds. Another similar characteristic is the brushwork they use. There are parts which are carefully worked but others that are just one generic swoop of the brush like in under the right ear and on the chin of Bacon's and on the left cheek into the neck of Saville's. 

On the other hand it is important to be influenced by what is around you and other things not related to art. Subjects from Geology and Nature to the mechanics of a car can be used for inspiration. This is the basis of what we do and what motivates us. When we find something we find beautiful we want to create art from it and that could be anything. An artist like John F. Simon Jr. who does multimedia pieces is inspired by Geology. You might not be aware of it from first looking at the piece but once you make that connection everything has a different meaning. 

John F. Simon Jr, Endless Bounty, 2005

As artist's we are allowed to be in awe of really strange things. We should take advantage of that and not allow ourselves to get embarrassed for staring at a tree for an abnormally long time in public. Own it and fully let it inspire your work so that you can be the best artist you can.

Photo Cites:
Rosetta 2: http://www.gagosian.com/artists/jenny-saville/selected-works
Self Portrait with Injured Eye: http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/Bacon/FBFaces.html
Endless Bounty: http://artdaily.com/news/67295/John-F--Simon-Jr--s-multimedia-works-inspired-by-geology-and-Kandinsky-on-view-at-the-Phillips-Collection