Seeking inspiration

How do you find that colorful creative energy that is needed to fuel your work?

Here are a few concrete ideas that I have used in the past.

1. Curl up with some really great quilting/fabric or interior design magazines and just absorb the color combinations and patterns. Pottery and dishes are great inspiration for jewelry..as are museum catalogs..look up by gone periods and ogle some of the jewels or even the dishes of that time. Art Deco. Byzantine. Renaissance.

2. Add music to your space. Music can inspire and move you..be bold and listen to something you wouldn't normally listen to. Mood changes the flow in your environment and can definitely alter the work that comes from within.

3.Get outside. Breathe in the fresh air and try to see your surroundings through child eyes. Notice texture,line and color. Is it possible to take a rod of glass and mimic the pattern of wood? Notice how cool a shade of brown looks with a certain shade of moss..How is it that nature never messes up a color combination? Which brings us to...

4. COLOR. Play with color. Which artist said, "there is no blue without red." Picasso maybe, but its a great quote.
Put together combinations that are unusual for you. Move out of your comfort zone. Almost any color combination is possible if you're brave enough. Try just changing the tone rather than the hue itself...where orange is too strong a milder melon color may be just what is needed.

5. Don't take yourself too seriously. We should take our cues from children more often. Children are highly creative...it's really all play. Pretend there is no right or wrong way.

6. I know that I would be much more productive if I were to keep a notebook for ideas and thoughts and color combos that come when you're sitting in the doctors office or drifting off to sleep.
Without the notebook you're not prepared when those ideas of genius pop up. Napkins get lost..bits of torn paper wind up in the bottom of your purse or in white papery crumbs in the washing machine. I know I should get a notebook...

Just a couple of thoughts that I've used and that I've seen work for others in the past, maybe something here will be just what you need.
I've actually chosen this subject to blog about right now in hopes of kicking my own self out of a little slump... Maybe I'll start by going out to buy myself a notebook.