the question

I was recently asked where I find my inspiration. And, although I didn't think of it at the exact moment that this question was posed, I have since remembered a list of influences that I created several years ago. Being the persistent sort of creature that I am, I searched until finding the journal that contained it. It was shorter than I remembered but included everything from fetuses to red peppers to shadows and reflected light. But, what had originally triggered me to write this list was a similar (but much longer) one by sculptor, David Smith. I'd love to include his entire list here, but keeping in mind that not everyone will be as enthralled with it as I am, I'll limit it to a tiny quote....

"...the way trees fall, the shape of rocks, the color of a dry doe in brown, the way bark grows on basswood sprouts, the head of a turtle - the vertebrae, the memory of the soup it made, and the 52 ping pong balls it never laid..."

In any case, all this has encouraged me to start keeping better track of those little things that do bring me daily inspiration. The unnoticeables...the quiet, subtle, unseen details. It's in these things that I find the desire to create.