Inspiration

On my last blog post I received this comment: “stop looking at all the blogs and pinterest..."looking at art is not the same as making art" then there is time for sewing”.  My first instinct was to erase it because I took it as an insult, but after thinking about it I realized that it is partly true though the author of this comment was also taking time to look and my blog and I didn’t even know who she was.  I have several reasons for looking at blogs and pinterest and the biggest reason is for inspiration.  Another blogger this week was discussing whether copying an idea or project was flattering or made you upset and I tend to think of it as flattery.  Most of the time people will change a thing or two and not copy something exactly as you have done it.  I enjoy seeing a new spin on an old idea.

I copied this free pattern for Patches the Pumpkin Patch Protector from the Stitch This! website and have really enjoyed making it.  I am not done yet, but it has gone together faster than I anticipated and I have discovered that I do love paper piecing.  The recommended method was to use freezer paper, but I chose to use printer paper and  it went together smoothly until I tried working on it one evening after work and made a mistake that I had to rip out and proceeded to tear the fabric a bit.  I will be able to fix it, but it made me realize that one reason I don’t sew much after a hard days work is that I usually make errors when I am tired.  My job can be quite physically exhausting some times.  I work at a nursery and do a lot of walking and lifting and dragging heavy hoses around to water plants, I love my job, but I sure do get tired.  That is when blog hopping is a good thing, it fills my head with ideas for my next day off when I have the time and energy to put into a project and do it right the first (or second) time.

I get inspired by lots of things on the internet.  Someone posted this picture on facebook last week and when we were decorating the lobby for fall I spotted the perfect thing to use this idea in and shared it with my colleagues who then followed through with the idea while I watered plants and I think it turned out splendidly.  The inspiration picture is on top and I think it is at Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore, California, the picture below is how we used the idea in our way at our nursery, Wyntour Gardens in Redding

So I would say that looking at art may not be the same as making art, but it sure does give you inspiration to make something of your own later, and I will continue to get my inspiration from blogs, pinterest, facebook, nature and everything else around me and find what speaks to me to use in my own works of art.

Always looking to be inspired ~

Ferne