Inspirations and Complications

  How do people create? What sparks the figment of your imagination?  How do original ideas develop?  Ever since I picked up the paint brush in June and placed that acrylic to canvas I've wanted to paint more ... its become an obsession. The art blogs and videos I've been viewing have been creating a hunger, a crack addiction of sorts.
  I'm not new to art or making use of its creative powers.  I've always been artistic and for the last 17 years I've been using acrylic paints on plaster; always gratifying and after years of practice very relaxing. In addition to my love of acrylics I used to draw. I've had the ability to draw since I was about 3, I just had a knack for it but its appeal would wax and wane, even adding colored pencils into the mix did little to jazz-up my enthusiasm for it.
  My pull toward the arts has been consistent and I've partaken in my fair share of crafts, sewing, circut art, beading, even stained glass window making. But it just didn't stop there, I've also been a dancer and of course a musician, least I forget my first love of all the Clarinet! I've been playing nearly 20 years and was a music performance major before becoming an ASL Interpreter (which is an art all its own).
  Something happened internally (I've not felt in a long time) when I painted on that canvas ... it was so liberating! It was a moment in time that I knew I was doing exactly what I was supposed to. I was in the zone and I love that feeling. Time ceases to exist, aches and pains are eradicated and energy is endless ... my senses are dulled to the outer world and yet heightened to an internal vortex of creation!  Art truly is my drug of choice haha!!
  Just the act of painting or artistic expression isn't enough though. I need inspiration. I need the spark to illuminate the path I am supposed to take. Being unique is my niche, its kind of what separates me from from you ... lol ... no seriously, I am told VERY often that I am unique. I don't want the high road OR the road less traveled, I want my OWN road. I'm not saying that to sound entitled, but I'm all about honoring all that is ME ;)
  So how can I get inspired to create something new? Practice ... patience? Waiting?  Here's my dilemma, I can look at drawings/paintings/patterns etc and copy them. I can look at a photograph and re-create the image in another form. But this kind of replication clashes with my internal being ... I feel like I am leaching off of another's talent and tweak it to make it my own.  Is that what original is?  I would love for my mind to be as detailed as my eyes allow me to see, but simple thoughts such as "owl, tree, barn" rarely (if ever) give me enough inspiration to create those things the way I want.  How do I get past this hiccup in the creativity process?  HELP!
 
   

Time to unplug?

     I'm addicted to the TV. Yeah, I said it ... A-D-D-I-C-T-E-D, a-ddic-ted!  The "boob-tube" is on when I sleep, when I eat, when I read and even when I think. I watch so much television that there are moments in my life when I envision a commercial break, as if I were staring in a long running series. Sad, right?
     However, the "goggle box" does not  rule my entire life. I maintain employment, I see friends and do lots of activities that don't include spending time in front of the television set. In fact when I visit my GA family for a week at a time where "no t.v." is a religious rule, I survive just fine.
    My habits don't prevent me from living my life, and I'm not harming anyone ... so why do I want to stop?
    Well... watching the "tube" is just not necessary. I find I watch things I've seen, I'm bored with whats available and I feel like its an over stimulant. I don't just watch the "idiot box"  I'm always multitasking, painting my nails, talking on the phone, talking with my husband, playing a board game, painting, drawing etc, etc. Mr. Telly has simply worn out his welcome!
    On a more tangible note, cable isn't getting cheaper. Our triple-play costs us $185.00 a month!! Could you imagine having an extra $185.00 a month?? I can, I see debt being paid off, investing in my future and saving for a rainy day. Perhaps a vacation, a shiny- red- patent leather- pair- of- heels, a rain slicker or a tattoo!! So many possibilities!
    In all honestly breaking away from the MTV, ESPN, TLC, NAT-GEO and every other acronym will allow me to live in the present. I want my days to be filled with art projects, heart-felt conversations with my husband, dinner at the table, long walks with the dogs, watching the stars and thoroughly enjoy a movie because I want to, not just because its there.
    So the cable must go ... after 19 years this will be a challenge, but I think spending time reading, writing and creating will bring out the "ME" in me.

Thanks for Tuning-in!

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