Studio Update: Showing Up

I've been showing up lately, lots actually. More on that later.

Knowing inspiration has hit isn't difficult when it swoops in and slams you over the head like a ton of bricks. Those big "WOW!" moments are easy to recognize and translate so seamlessly and directly into fresh, new ideas that they're almost like gifts laid out before you, arriving anonymously and often taken for granted. The work that follows this type of inspiration may not always come as easily as the idea did, but when the idea is so clear and solid it somehow provides a stable foundation on which to begin work, and gives you the stability and drive to work through even the toughest obstacles that may come up.

The tricky part is that inspiration doesn't always drop into your lap like that. My mind is always open and waiting for my next big collision with inspiration, but lately I have been focusing on tuning myself into the smallest details of daily life to see what inspiration I can find in what I might not normally notice, or may normally take for granted.

 
 The minute corkscrews that happen when metal is perfectly drilled.

Wanting to take the Stock Certificate series a step further I decided that I needed to open up what had been the boundaries of the pieces...the contour of the frame. All of my work on the pieces to this point has been contained within the frame, and while I feel that there is still plenty of space for further exploration inside there, I wanted to begin to break out of that static shape.

I started with an exploration of the details of the stock certificates themselves and saw a parallel between the fact that I was looking for something to ornament the outer boundaries of my pieces, and the fact that many of my favorite details on the certificates are just to the outside of boundaries and borders:

 

From there I began looking at minute details of similar things and found myself attracted to the stylized foliage detail on our currency:

 

I loved how the leaves just outside of Washington's portrait looked naturally yet neatly tucked into place.

 

So from there I decided to explore the shape and form of overlapping bunches of leaves. I made some preliminary sketches...

 

...and then got down to the business of figuring out the how and the where to make it work. 

 

So this is where I am right now:

 

And this is who I visit from time to time to remind me that inspiration or no inspiration, it will all be okay if I just show up:  

And so I'm just going to keep showing up.

-c