I wanted to talk a little bit about inspiration and how exactly my style ended up being “my style”.  It is funny because I have been asked what genre it would fall under and honestly, I have no idea. It definitely did not start as any kind of style. In fact, I cannot say I was even very good at all at first, but I enjoyed painting because I was focused on one task and centered my creativity instead of thinking about twenty things at once, which is me on a day to day basis.  I mentioned in my About Me section of this website that I am completely self-taught, which might sound impressive, but trust me, I have been painting for over a decade and am just now figuring out my unique way of doing things.  In saying that, in the small business world today, if you want to expand and make your mark you have to evolve.  That means you have to come up with new ideas and keep applying your style or talents to each work whether it be painting like me or some other venture. 

There are times that it is difficult to be inspired.  It is hard to find new things to try or ideas to expand this little dream I have for my studio and business.  More often than not if I get stuck, I talk to some of my closest friends, and they come up with the best things to try.   Other times my family helps me and pushes me to try new things.  In fact, my dad has been pushing me to try sunflowers.  He wants me to put together a series of sunflowers.  I have never done much with them, and once I was finally caught up after actually being home for more than a week at a time, I sat down to try one.  I loved how it turned out, and I was so glad that I did it.  Now I am taking on this little series of sunflowers!

There have been many works that I have been asked to do, and at first the thought of attempting them was daunting.  Even in the midst of them, I doubted myself like how is this ever going to look like it is supposed to, then all of the sudden there it is!  These are the kind of pieces that push me to new heights.  I wonder how exactly my work will look this time next year because it certainly does not look like it did even six months ago.  These thoughts give me the inspiration that I need because when I look back I am proud of myself.

So now that I am rambling and getting warm and fuzzy as you all will find out, I do a lot!  My point is that I get my inspiration from many different places and trusting other people’s ideas has been a big part of my growth, but also finally trusting “my style” has inspired me the most. 

I want to know what inspires you.  I am going to try a little extra something this week and see if I can get some of you to interact on this blog.  Let me know something that inspires you in your business, in your personal everyday growth, or whatever you can apply it to.  I think this could be fun!  So, comment below with a fun story or even just what gets your wheels turning the most.  I am thinking that there could be a little Valentine’s Day surprise attached to the participation, but I will think on what could be the most fun. 

You never know, maybe something that you write could inspire me to try something new in my daily overthinking sessions or it could impact another reader.  I am pretty excited about this so…. Ready… Set….Go!!