Capture the inspiration

"Inspiration is hard to come by.  You have to take it where you find it." Bob Dylan

Several weeks ago my husband and I made a business trip to California. While he was at a meeting I took the opportunity to go on an artist’s date and a walk. I strolled along the harbor, soaking in the ocean air, feeling the chilly coastal breeze, listening to the seagulls.  I loved looking at the variety of fishing boats on the dock and imagining the adventures they had been on. I wished I had my camera with me to capture the inspiration I was feeling. One boat had a sign on it that said: 'B and B on the water'.  Now there is a creative idea about how to pay for your boat expenses!  I also noticed a giant fishing boat that looked like it had just been freshly repainted in a bright periwinkle blue.  There was a man setting on the helm with a very small paint brush painting the anchor the blue color...Do you suppose he used that same tiny paintbrush for the whole giant boat? It would have been a great photo to ponder.  Darn...I needed my camera, or at least my journal!

Does that ever happen to you when you get an inspiration, or see a wonderful idea that you want to capture?  But you didn't do it because you didn't get it down in time?  Perhaps you have woken in the middle of the night with an answer to a question you've been pondering and can't remember it in the morning?  You might be driving down the road and get an idea for a birthday card or gift, or a great theme for a blog....but the inspiration is gone as quickly as it came.  We need to have our tools ready to capture our inspirations. Perhaps a notebook by the bed, a tablet in our purse, a camera ready to click, or an inspiration board on your wall?

As I was searching the Internet for ideas about capturing inspiration, I came across a really interesting website...Here's how the homepage begins: "I started the ‘capturing inspiration, sparking imagination’ project to discover whether searching for, writing about and taking photographs of things that inspire me could change me. Could it make me happier? Could it make me more creative? Could it make me more aware of the positive things in life and less aware of the negative? Could I be more responsive to inspiration, taking action rather than just acknowledging the feeling. But more importantly, could I find things to inspire me to take photos each day of the year."  Lyn
http://inspiredreflection.wordpress.com/about-the-project/

I love this idea of creating your own project to see if you can be changed by capturing daily inspirations!  Just by reading about this idea encourages me to look for inspirations each day...does it you? 

So think about it and decide what you're going to do to be ready for the next creative flash that comes your way! 

And speaking of inspiration and imagination....this mom (Adele Enerson) uses her sleeping daughter to inspire her to create a precious ever changing fantasy world. What a fabulous example of taking inspiration where you find it!

http://youtu.be/TZ-BFGdq2JY

Homework: What inspires you?  Create your own project to capture ideas, images and inspirations.