Inspiration

As a mom of two young children, I am inundated with the creative ramblings of the youths. It makes me want to be more free flowing with my ideas and allow myself the grace to try wacky things without stifling my creativity.

Children are a bottomless well of silly ideas and fun stories. The connections they draw to the real world to inspire their art are honestly unexpected.

One day at drop off, a little girl came up to me (I had a cane with me at the time) and told me I look too young to be a grandma. After some back and forth asking and answering questions, it dawned on me that she likely had grandmas who use canes so in her eyes “Canes = Grandma”. Then it was my turn to explain about mobility aids and how many different people use them. It was just so interesting to gain that small insight into the mind of a child.

My eldest loves to draw “treasure maps” on the back of every picture. It’s like a secret that only we know about. The description they give of “this is the wall, that’s the garden, over here is the swimming pool” would never let on that the “treasure maps” are just various lines going every which way across the paper.

The ability to see endless possibilities in the most mundane aspects of life is truly inspiring and I hope to incorporate this creative thinking process into not only my artwork but also my everyday life.