Friday, December 4, 2009

My inspiration book

Like many artists, I keep images for reference and creative stimulation. One way of doing it is to keep a clip file, which consists of tossing the photos, drawings, etc. into a file folder. Though that works for some very specific projects, for my general collection of mostly catalog and magazine images, a more organized arrangement is more, well... inspiring!

A large binder with page protectors is the basic book. The images are pasted on paper with a glue stick on both sides, then into the page protectors they go. The binder is divided into categories using standard tab dividers. Below are some pages from the Fabric section. While these are clothes, I‘m primarily interested in the color combinations and the patterning on the cloth.
There’s a Jewelry section and a separate Bead section. Every time I look at these, I want to make one.
There’s a Knit & Crochet section, Ceramics, 2-D Art, and several more categories. Hey, at least all these ridiculous catalogs they send me get some use! (I have cut down on the onslaught by registering with CatalogChoice.org, which has helped. It’s an endless battle, though.)
The book is getting pretty full, may have to subdivide. Of course there’s a whole digital clip file on my computer that is getting vaster by the day. Then there are the bookmarked web pages, the blog subscriptions, my bookshelves, the library books...

3 comments:

Beena said...

I like your inspiration book, very inspirational. Isn't it awful about the catalogs, especially this time of year? Looks like you've found a good use for parts of them, anyway!

Diane J. Evans said...

Truly inspirational, Loreen -- don't you find that it takes a lot of time to gather these things together in order to be ready when you need the inspiration?! It's a necessary part of the artist's world, though, isn't it?

Diane

Unknown said...

Multitasking...I pile the catalogs and mags with promising images next to my TV chair. When the pile of cutouts gets numerous enough, they get glued into the book. BTW, I never cut images out of “keeper” magazines like Quilting Arts, etc.