sjsmith.com.au - blog

Keep Your Eyes Open

Where Inspiration Lives

I have often had people ask me where I get my inspiration from. I find this a hard question to answer because it can come from virtually anywhere. When I'm taking photos I can't help but be inspired by where I live.  Around Brisbane's Bayside is so beautiful. The changing colours of the water and the sky, the serenity of Moreton Bay., even my local neighbourhood is lovely.  The changing plants and colours as the seasons change, the local parks, the sunset from my front garden! But I don't even have to leave the house to be inspired, it may be the colour combinations of the clean washing on the end of the bed, the shadows of late afternoon as they come through the Venetian blinds or the smiling face of my Jack Russell. Finding visual beauty is easy but what about other types of inspiration?

A few weeks ago I talked about the sudden departure of my writing muse (Blog no.42 - When You're in a Rut). When I started writing a blog I was really unsure about whether I would be able to manage it.  Some people said you should blog three times a week, others said daily was necessary but I was certain I would find that too much while juggling the rest of the business. So I decided I would try weekly and see if I was up for it.  As you can see this is blog 46 so I'm edging towards a year (with a bit of a break last year when I was sick).  I was surprised how easy and enjoyable I found writing. Give me a topic and off I'd go. Someone asked where I got my subjects from and like visual cues the cues for writing can come from lots of sources.  It may be a line of dialogue I hear on the television or read in a book (I read a lot!), maybe it's a headline from a newspaper or a magazine, or maybe it's to do with the time of year, like Easter or, Chinese New Year.

Whether I'm writing or creating visual art I try not to think too hard about it.  Just start and see where it goes.  If it flows reasonably well and I feel excited I know I've usually got something.  Whether it's any good remains to be seen!  I try to keep  lists of possible blog titles, ideas for photos or print series.  So if you're looking for sources of inspiration you shouldn't need to look far and when you find some, keep a note of them and just start!

Till next time,

Sarah-Jane X