Sunday, May 3, 2009

Creativity Spark - Take an Internet Walk

I have just discovered an amazing way to really *Spark* a creative slump. I call it taking a walking on the internet. So here's how it goes:
1 - Go to Google and select the Image search
2 - Pick a design word to search - a couple of my favorites are Decorative, Floral, Swirls....
3 - This will display a bunch of images. I quickly scan to see if there's anything inspiring. When I see something that sparks something I click on it.
4 - Once I have a larger image, I right click the image and Save to a folder I set up called Inspirations.
5 - The go back to the search page, click next and see what else you find.
6 - When I get tired of this, maybe 30 pages in, I go take a look at my Inspiration folder. I print out a bunch and then go doodling using the printed designs ONLY as inspiration.

So where did this lead? On one of my searches on the word "Rosemaling" I found a bunch of images.
Here's a couple doodles I did. I decided to create some design elements that I could combine.














Then I enlarged the designs and played with them to create a full size design that I traced on a piece of Pellon Decor Bond. This was fused to the back of a black piece of fabric. The design was stitched out with Candlelight in the bobbin (like my DigiBobbETM).

Then I plan to paint in some of the spaces with DecoArt SoSoft Fabric Paints. This is like a class I teach called "Stitch N Glitz" (which BTW I'll be teaching in Vermont and Long Beach, CA).

So here a peek at a the stitched design I have in the works. Wait till you see what else I'm doing to it......


2 comments:

Rosalind said...

:o)
I do exactly the same and my folder is called "Inspiration " too. Some of my favourites are of henna tattoo patterns. Doodle heaven!

DW said...

I can't wait to see what you do next. I just picked up a book from Dover and they had a CD in the book you could download the pictures. They had some nice design ideas.