Inspiration!

I have been asked where I get my inspiration. Well, I hate to tell you, but often it comes in my sleep. I wake up knowing what I need to do. It is rarely the work of fastidious (Gosh, I hope that is a word.) study. I will admit to sticking with a project until I like it if something goes wrong, because I have that awful disease of not being able to give up on anything. I just keep trying something else until the project appeals to me. Sometimes it comes when I am awake, fully awake. I let things stew in my head, and stuff happens. My dad, a musician, used to talk about "the muse," and I hated when he said that, but I was too inexperienced to really know what that meant. I think I do now because sometimes I sit down with an idea and the things around me take over and it turns out completely different than I imagined it from the beginning. The other thing I will say is that I RARELY start off with a complete vision of what I am working on will look like in the end. I just get started and keep adding things until it looks done. I find that a lot of times what I need is right at my fingertips, and I love making things out of leftovers and pieces of fabric or whatnot that would normally get thrown away. I remember taking something to the trash can at the end of an Art Unraveled class and seeing what was in the trash. I became like a "dumpster diver" that day. The next day, I was showing a woman I met there my "treasures" when she gave me a funny look, and said, "I made that." That was pretty funny, but it became a page in a book I made later.
Moving right along, on the off chance anyone is still awake, I have made a list of blogs which includes places I go for inspiration sometimes when I hit a dry spot, artists, and friends, places that get me jumpin'. Maybe they will work for you, too.