When my creativity hits a wall, I look for inspiration in the work of the artists I love. For years, every time I see something that grabs my attention online, I right-click on the image and "Save As" into an ever-growing folder titled INSPIRATION. Now, as a means of keeping all of our creative juices flowing, I will randomly select ten images from my folder every week and share them here with you. I encourage you to follow the links to see more of each artist's work - there is always much more inspiration to be discovered!
Etching | 1978
^ Alexander Aksinin ^
Drawings of architectural proposal | 1784
^ Étienne-Louis Boullée ^
Watercolor | 2015
^ Tytus Brzozowski ^
Acrylic on canvas | 2017
^ Eckart Hahn ^
Mixed media with rooster feathers in bespoke brass vitrine | 2017
^ Kate MccGwire ^
Ink and acrylic on canvas | 2004
^ Julie Mehretu ^
Illustration | 1983-2008
^ François Schuiten ^
(shout-out to
for sharing this artist with me)
Wood and black marble | 2017
^ Snarkitecture ^
Oil on canvas | 2014
^ Gregory Thielker ^
Photograph | 2014
^ Michael Wolf ^
To "Save" a file implies keeping it as you found it. To "Save As" is to change it, to re-make it, to find something new that wasn't there before. There is an important distinction between plagiarizing someone else's work, and using it to unlock something in your own mind. In this section I will use the above images to unlock my creativity and see what comes out.
Every week, I will challenge myself to fill an entire page of my sketchbook with stream-of-consciousness ideas inspired by the images above. I challenge you to do the same! Feel free to share your thoughts and sketches in the comments below. My sketches will be quick and messy, and mostly futile, but every once in a while I hope a new and exciting idea finds its way onto the page.
This week I was most inspired by Boullée's design for the Cenotaph for Newton. I love his idea of creating a spherical space where you enter from the base and find a ground level that is ever-curving. I tried to employ a similar form in some new gazebo designs which I've sketched below. None of these ideas are fully formed or refined, but there's some potential in this form since my domed shape already lends itself to completing the sphere at the ground-level.
If there's an artist/architect/designer whose work you find particularly inspiring, feel free to share their work in the comments below for consideration in future posts. Please do not share your own work, only the work of people who inspire you. Thanks for reading this edition of Save/As! Please resteem to share this resource with your fellow creative Steemians.
#001 | #002
