Art Inspiration From Your Surroundings

Christmas is fast approaching and seem to feel the need to make all my Christmas presents and cards! This hasn't left me much time for anything else so this is a quick, little blog today.

This blog is going to show some of the many photos I take when I'm out walking and what kind of art it leads to (sometimes years later). It really depends on what mood I'm in as to what takes my fancy and often I have grand ideas about the masterpiece I will produce, but I end up with a little sketch!

This photo was taken in the park near my house. I love the way the ocean wind had sculpted these trees and this led to....

'Trees in the Park' where the energy of the brush strokes captures the feeling of the gusting wind.

This is a photo from a trip to Big Bear Mountain. Anyone who knows me, knows I have a slight obsession with painting rocks and I think it started here! I love the way they rocks almost look stacked up and ready to fall any moment. The trip led to this sketch...

Which also has another of my favorite elements - fauvism with the unusual and unexpected colors.

I am also drawn to urban and suburban landscapes too, as shown in the following examples.

I took this photo very early one morning when I was in downtown LA.

And this is how I interpreted it in my 'Dawn City' collage painting.

I took this fun photo while I was out killing time during my daughter's hip hop class. This led me to a slightly more literal interpretation...

'Hermosa Houses'

I think I have about another 23,000 photos of inspiration to try and paint so I better get to it!

Thanks for reading.

Alison