Desperately Seeking Inspiration

*big movie voice* And now, Ladies and Gentleman, the long-awaited sequel to Inspiration Lost.

Fortunately, I'm not so hopeless or dramatic as the title sounds!

As I wrote before, I hit a period at the beginning of this summer of deep introspective about my life and art. Chaos was reigning in my personal life and I think I simply put art on a "business" auto pilot.

Although I painted subjects I was fond of (nature), I leaned everything towards "what people like" and "what people will buy." Needless to say, the "people" were a step behind in my agenda! I had decent yet disappointing sales this spring. I didn't understand..I did all the "right" things. I painted what "they" wanted, I painted smaller and created different "price points." I invested heavily into creating a set of prints from my most popular pieces. I marketed, I followed up, etc, etc.

Somewhere in the middle of all my business books and marketing plans, I lost site of my vision. In fact, I wasn't sure what my vision was or should be. I've done a lot of decent paintings over the past year and a some good paintings, but few great paintings. I'm capable of it, I have a few in my inventory, but as a long-time friend wrote to me one time, she can tell the paintings that I wanted to do and the ones I felt I needed to do.

So..how to create great painting? I, like many, many, many artists, can draw or paint about anything you put in front of me (in several mediums!), but can I make it a work of art? a breath taker? something you'll stop and stare at and say , "Wow!"? So in walks my "vision" or "inspiration." How do I paint what means the most to me?

I took a look at other artists..other wildlife artists. Many are animal rights advocates or work to increase for endangered species. Other coastal artists..many are environmental activists or, at the very least, LIVE at the beach!

So, I thought, where can I join in? Where can I throw my time, talent and money to what I love? Sheesh..how am I supposed to have time to take on a "cause"? I'm really busy all the time. I teach art classes to kids in my studio, I run my own kids to sports and Scouting. I volunteer up at the school and am active in the PTA. How can I possibly fit another activity into my schedule? Will I have to wait until my kids are grown and gone to have time for my "artistic vision?"

Now, normally I'm a pretty sharp gal and a quick learner. I have to admit that it took most of the summer for me to figure out this conundrum. How can I fit in time "create" an artistic vision in the middle of all my CHILD oriented activities. I LOVE my KIDS and all the work and volunteering I do around other KIDS too much to cut out any more time from them and the activities I do with them. Hmm..see a pattern?

I didn't need to create a vision or go looking for it. It was there all along. I'm first a stay-at-home mom, and then an artist. My user name on many forums is "mommyartist." I think I've been living my vision day in and day out. My favorite (and possibly my best) paintings include kids.

So..I'm heading down a middle path between my coastal art and my animal art. Some may argue (mainly moms and teachers) that animal art and child art is no different. They are probably right and may be why I love painting animals! I can guarantee you are going to see paintings of kids on the beach or kids with animals..but that makes sense, doesn't it?

On The Easel:
Reflections - I'm trying this painting with only 4 colors...Cobalt Blue, Cadmium Orange, Payne's Gray, & Titanium White. It is a play on warm and cool colors and the texture in the water. I'm still working on the direction lines of the incoming waves, but I'm pleased with how it's shaping out. There is a poem somewhere I started to go with this painting. Hopefully, I'll find it and finish it before thepainting is complete.