Florence and her patterns...

I escaped to the bookstore yesterday to get out of the studio and do a bit of reading-$59 worth of books later!! I found this odd book on Florence Broadhurst who designed beautiful wallpaper patterns. They ranged from intricate English tapestries to psychedelic pop. I bought the book because it had quite a few examples of her work and I have this fascination with pattern and color. I find myself digging into design books when I am toying with new directions in my creativity. Actually-when I am in the middle of a project that I am not sure suits me and the direction I want to be headed in. Sounds strange but I have had a lot of opportunities come my way recently and oddly they fit perfectly into what might be considered an “older goal”. A goal of a couple years ago-I cannot quite decipher what doors to walk through and spend time on and which ones not to. Do I embrace the opportunity, after all it was a goal at one time or do I move on because my head and heart have moved on? I enjoy all aspects of illustrating so that isn’t a marker. I generally follow my peace, knowing that every project I work on can be a lesson for the next one. But this can be tough too, I live in a great deal of peace daily-is the fact that I am question the work a lack of peace?So yesterday at the book store, surrounded by my favorite things-books that inspire me-I jotted a list of basic things that “move me” artistically, visually. Here is what I came up with on the fly:
Pattern

color

people

style, not just fashion

spirituality
Is that an odd list? I guess is interesting to see what spills out without thought. It is probably good for me to practice thinking like this because when I return to the list I begin to over examine it-asking myself “where the value of the items on the list?”. How do I make my mark by the things that inspire me? I believe a problem I have is staying in the “move me” moment. When it comes to my career I set goals, and work towards them and this can take me out of the self discovery phase that needs to be a constant in an artist’s life.So, words to mull over for me….hmmmm. Do I give myself a day a week to just discover and paint what moves me or is that too structured? Ha! See how tangled I get? Maybe I should just move into the bookstore because I really stay in the moment when I am there! I did conclude that whatever project I work on I will work on it with my whole heart and all my expertise. Even that takes some dedication because as an illustrator, time is money and I am forcing myself to rework anything that I am not completely pleased with. The journey is an interesting one.