It’d be tricky to be creative in a vacuum, don’t you think? Inspiration is essential. T’would be an awfully large leap from the blank page to a work of beauty if you’d not laid your eyes on beauty elsewhere. So I’m always happy to discuss inspiration with friends such as your marvellously good selves. Where – if you don’t mind me asking – do you find your inspiration?
For me, nature is an unsurpassable source of ideas for colour, form, and texture. And artists/crafters who capture the creativity of the natural world come a close second. Artists such as Dan Bennett. Gather round, my friends, help yourself to a glass of this rather lovely rioja, and feast your eyes on this:-
This is the design on the cover of my 2014 appointments diary, an acrylic by Dan Bennett called Meconopsis 5. I love it. The detail, the geometry, the colour, the botanical inspiration – it speaks to me. Dan Bennett’s images (many of which are here) make me think about what might be possible with needles/hooks and yarn. When I was designing my knitted picture of a mandala, I thought about mandala-like designs of his, such as this:-
Bennett is a British artist, inspired by the world visible through the microscope as much as by the world visible to the naked eye. I’m reproducing some of his acrylics here as their repetitive details are perhaps most relevant to fibre artists, but he also works in oil and through the medium of body art. Want to see some more? Here is another of his acrylics:-
And a painting that makes me ponder texture:-
All rather beautiful, no? Anyway, whilst I continue to knit my secret new design, I just had to share this with you. Whose work inspires you? Or do you rely solely on raw nature? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Dare I say everything inspires me sometimes while other times it’s the absence of everything that inspires me? And while I can be visually inspired in one moment, in the next it’s the quite solitude when inspiration strikes. I’m complicated like that! But truthfully it usually takes a sunrise and quiet solitude.
Yes yes, this all makes so much sense. Especially the sunrise and quiet solitude. Thank you for such a beautiful, peaceful image.
What a loaded question ~ I love it!
Picasso, Monet, poetry, hot tea, morning fog, the purr of a cat, Olek (& many many other yarnbombers), loud music, a little dancing, my Grandmother, dreams, and hundreds of thousands of creative people whose photos are on Pinterest 🙂
Oh, and mustn’t forget to add those crazy ideas that show up in the shower!
Great question because it made me stop & think about it 🙂
That. Is. A. Truly. Fabulous. List. 🙂
Thank you. 🙂
The Dan Bennett works are lovely. Explosions of life great and small. Thanks for sharing this. The last one has a sense of Australian Aboriginal dot paintings. Amazing how the microscopic mimics the massive – it’s all perspective.
For me, inspiration can be raw nature, other people’s interpretations of it in any medium, deep, clear thought and expression – whether mine or other people’s, and manufactured objects (Hello red Olivetti typewriter.)
I love the creative stories and thought processes of other people. Being in touch with the creative pulse of others makes my heart beat too.
My current inspirations are: William Morris and would love to see the Anarchy and Beauty exhibition at the NPG; trees of any type, their shapes, growth patterns, irregularity, one or many; primary Mondrian colours – activity within boundaries and clarity and crispness; fairy tales and Greek mythology; freedom and the mind; structure and wildness; mandalas, Arabic art, sand patterns and geology. Cliff patterns made me think of Kaffe Fassett.
I like the physicality, colour and patterns of knitting and sewing, expression of self in clothes which support the main buzz of reading and writing poetry and thinking.
In ‘The Master and his Emissary – the divided brain’ Ian McGilchrist writes that to avoid being trapped in a self-referential left hemisphere spiral (the vacuum), you reach out for inspiration to Art, Body and Soul – however these things manifest for you. (There’s a great 12 minute Ted Talk here: http://www.ted.com/talks/iain_mcgilchrist_the_divided_brain if you don’t have time to read the book, also his website for a 10,000 word e-book.
Fuligo reminded me of Australian aboriginal art, too.
That is the most wonderful list. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing it. (And you’re not the only one inspired by geology.)
They are gorgeous—the color combinations and the composition. I’m always amazed when people can create their own knitting/crocheting patterns. Your mandala is beautiful, and I can’t begin to fathom how you managed that. Wow!
Yes, his work is wonderful. Thank you for your comment on the mandala, too. I’m just a pedantic lover of detail – that’s all I needed to make the mandala.
Usually I’m following a pattern, so not much inspiration is needed! But when I do get inspired, it tends to be songs and/or musicals that inspired me, at the moment I’m particularly taken with Les Miserables.
Interesting that different people are inspired by different senses/media. What, if you don’t mind me asking, does Les Mis inspire you to create?
Kaffe Fassett is a master with colour and inspired me not to be afraid of making bold colour choices. Pinterest is a huge source of inspiration – I never cease to be amazed at the creative talent out there.
Agree on both those counts.
Both the Meconopsis and Dahlia make me think much more of Alliums! Recently I’ve been looking a lot a photomicrographs and the microscopic world really is a marvel…. I’m toying with the ideal of granny squares inspired by bacteria, plant and animal cells.
Yes, a lot of his blooms are allium-like. (Written as a lover of alliums.) And wow to your bacterial/cellular grannies! Looking forward to blog posts…
They are beautiful indeed. Truly perfect for inspiration at any time. And I do love blue! 😉 That blue artwork is stunning. Very peaceful.
🙂
Very inspirational designs.the colours are beautiful. I can see a very exciting design in the making if I am not mistaken ? I am also inspired by the natural world and I take lots of photos when I am out and about. Inspiration can also come from everyday objects that surround me especially textiles and great colours especially unusual combinations of them always catch my eye. I am very much looking forward to the unveiling of your secret new design, I’m sure its going to be stunning:-)
I think my design might be rather disappointing, but thank you for your thoughts on inspiration. 🙂
That last one looks like some Australian Aboriginal art. Fantastic. All lovely pictures, no wonder they inspire you!
Yes, I didn’t think of the Aboriginal art style until you and OneDabbles mentioned it, but YES.
Interesting topic and thoughts on the subject! I think I’m inspired by words and tradition–they get me thinking how to create a look or a feeling.
So interesting how different people are inspired by different senses/media. Someone else mentioned music, you mention words…
I think till now I have focused on learning stitches and getting them right . You have made me think – look for inspiration for colours and pattern. Thank you.
But the baby blanket you posted today, for example, is gorgeous! All those rich jewel-like colours…
Inspiration comes from all over. But I do find a good amount of it in architecture and gates. Boats and bodies of water are good for textural inspiration too. For color, the sky, nature, and paintings.
Wow, I love your list. Thank you. So glad I posed the question.
Your man certainly has a distinctive style and I can see it transferring quite nicely into the world of yarn and hooks. I loved reading all the comments too – isn’t it amazing how many ways we get inspired. I couldn’t begin to list all the areas and places and things and people who offer inspiration – I am totally inspired by so many and my frustration lies in not being able to create and be all the things I want to create and be……
Yes, the list of inspiration in this comments thread is wonderful and, in itself, inspiring.
As for your latter comment, you do create and are so much, though…
It would be tricky to be alive in a vacuum 😉 Art, nature, you wouldn’t have one without the other. Nature is our inspiration and when we home in on it, inspiration is inevitable…unlike living inside that vacuum which, alas, would end in tears…
Yes, yes, yes. You’re so right. 🙂
Love your inspirational pictures in this post. Like others who have commented I find my inspiration everywhere, and it doesn’t have to be visual, music being just as potent a source for me. I do have my muses though as you know from having visited my blog 🙂
🙂 Thank you.
Beautiful – I could get lost in these designs! My inspiration? To name but a few: fractals, magic, electronic dance music, and Nature at her best and worst!
Oh….. fractals. *sighs in delight*
I take inspiration from all sorts of different places, sometimes it’s a particular yarn that inspires me and sometimes it’s a pattern or someone else’s project. Inspiration can strike at any time, sitting on the bus, watching TV, walking the dogs, but I find it’s important to listen to that voice when it speaks and just go with it. That’s when my best creative work happens.
Wise words. Thank you.
raw nature and people like you and the likes of Bennet 🙂