Art and Inspiration: Rituals

I've had this brochure from Starbucks on my inspiration board since 2006. I never even read the brochure, I just loved the art on the front. I love how the art makes me feel. In this pinterest era, more often than not, I see people quick to look at art as a project they can easily duplicate once they have all the perfect supplies. This is not the way I think about or view art at all. Very rarely do I read about people discussing how the art makes them feel. I am all about the feelings the art evokes.  It never once occurred to me to find out what products the artist used to create his or her painting. I really was absorbed in the story the piece told. I  finally decided to use it as my inspiration for a new painting.

My inspiration is the way this piece makes me feel. Yet, when I look closely at the art I love so much to dissect it, I see many things I do not really like -faces, triangles, stubby trees, snake patterns. None of those things would be something I'd like on their own.  All these things combined with color and composition make me see and feel a different story. I see the story of a village. I see rituals and survival. I see rivers and mountains. I see the sun and moon. I see hope! I see a well loved quilt on the foot of a bed. I see a bouquet of colors all wrapped up with a black bow.

The feeling of daily and life rituals is what I started with. This time, I did not start with a blank canvas. I got in a mood and decided to paint over one of my original licensed pieces! I blame hormones! I covered my canvas with colors of my life and let parts of the original painting show through. The inspiration piece is very orderly in the way the colors are placed, leaving a lot of negative space. Lots of neat boxes. I did not do that. My goal was not to copy the painting, but be inspired by the feelings it evoked. I am using my own style and techniques. Over the course of days, as paint layers dried and I felt and thought more, I started adding images to represent my own rituals. A cup of tea, an arrow pointing me in the right direction, falling leaves, a house, windows of opportunity, the moon, the sun, the ocean, the colors of flowers in my garden (in summer). By the time I was done, I felt like it was a loved quilt at the foot of my bed.

I am not sure if this is a masterpiece or even a good painting. It was just really fun to build upon the feelings the inspiration piece stirred in me. I see myself so much in this painting and I feel the mood evoked in the inspiration piece here, too.

[note: I tried to find the artist who created the inspiration piece to declare my love but have been unsuccessful in finding him/her so far.]

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