What Inspires Me? — Goldbug Mosaics

I’m often asked, where do you get your inspiration from? Ah, now that’s a good question. I’m a bit like a magpie when it comes to inspiration. I find it everywhere – my morning walks on the beach, the colours I see someone wearing in the grocery store, a rocky cliff that I’m driving by, a descriptive piece I’ve read or music I’ve listened to. It’s all grist for the mill. I recently read a quote by Romanian-born American artist Hedda Sterne that sums it up nicely:
“I heard once about a Yiddish poet who lived in utter poverty and misery, a teenager, who never had seen anything beautiful in his life, and he made splendid poems about vegetables jumping into the soup pot. My idea being that for the sublime and the beautiful and the interesting, you don’t have to look far away. You have to know how to see.” (Hedda Sterne 1910-2011)

Inspiration is defined as the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative. It’s important because it’s often a catalyst for creating our best work – although I’d be the first the admit, not everything I’m inspired to create turns out as well as I’d hoped! There is even some evidence that being inspired and creative can trigger emotions that lead to the release of oxytocin in the brain. Oxytocin is associated with positive emotions such as love and connection - and who couldn’t use more of that?

Looking at other art and talking with other artists is also very inspiring to me. And not just mosaic art – painting, photography, fibre art - oh, and did I mention music? More grist for the mill.

The mosaic below, Growth: the Dark Side #2, was inspired by all the development that is currently happening in my area. Everywhere I look, another piece of land has been cleared and buildings are going up.

The Future’s so Bright (You Gotta Wear Shades) came about because I am very inspired by the work of the highly regarded mosaic artist, Giulio Menossi (be sure to check out his Facebook page or find him on Instagram @mosaic_menossi). I love the richness of his work – the colours, texture, the 3D qualities. The title for my piece came about because as I was working on it one day, I thought to myself “people are going to need sunglasses to look at this”. Which made me think of an old rock song “The Future’s So Bright” by Timbuk 3. Showing my age now!

The Future’s So Bright (You Gotta Wear Shades) 14” X 18”

I’ll close by saying, you can’t always wait to be inspired. Sometimes inspiration is elusive and fickle. On those days, you just have to do the work. And you know what? Sometimes that work can lead to inspiration!

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
― Jack London”