Inspiration and Design- painting

     Nature is a big inspiration for me, sitting and studying the different colors of a sunrise and sunset; watching cloud formations, how they become streaked or rippled depending on the wind patterns;  formation of trees and watching them bow in the wind;  water currents of the ocean or river;  calm lake;  birds flying overhead;  curving of a plant;  contour of mountains;  a person in a certain pose.
     Creating the feeling of or essence of something is also an avenue of inspiration for me.  Examples are the sound of a musical instrument, an emotion, the feeling of winter. 

     One example of what inspires me in painting is
"Discovering". When my son was a 1yr old he was in our back yard and had picked up a yellow leaf that had fallen from our tree.  He was studying that leaf and figuring it out.  The way he was studying it, the look in his eyes and on his face, the way he held the leaf really struck me and I wanted to paint this moment.  As I painted this piece I thought of my dad because of certain features on my son's face look like my dad.  These features became more pronounced and older and I realized this was becoming a generational piece.  I titled it "Discovering" because he was discovering new things around him and since this looked to be different ages in one person, as one ages one discovers different things. In this painting I was creating the essence of what my son was doing and it turned out to be so much more.