Finding Inspiration

Getting paid to be creative is hard sometimes. I've discovered I truly cringe over doing custom work....usually because the buyer has something in mind already, which worries me so much that it feels impossible to just do my thing.  And getting inspired on cue is hard too.  A looming deadline (like the War Eagle Craft Fair on October 13-16) can be helpful or it can be crippling.  You come up with all kinds of tricks to get yourself in the zone to work. I think I found one that worked. Yesterday, I gave myself a little time to browse Etsy for beautiful things that belonged to the feel of the table I wanted to create.

Determining the "feel" of something is important to me.  In the end, I want a piece that people can relate to. They will be able to do that when a piece has one coherent concept, instead of many dis-harmonious parts.  Sometimes the concept is colors. Sometimes the concept is a motif.  Sometimes the concept is contrasting old and new.  But staying true to the concept makes a greater impact. Mosaic isn't hard. You glue stuff to other stuff. But making a mosaic that has the feeling of art takes thought.

So yesterday, I spent some time on Etsy, looking for beautiful things that fed the idea I had for my mosaic table.  I decided to make a treasury (a curated collection of 12 items with 4 alternates) that depicted the concept I was trying to achieve.

Here is the treasury:

Now here is the table I laid out yesterday from this inspiration.

Show prep is grueling. It is messy. I am totally engrossed in it.  But at least I can have a little fun getting inspired.