Recently, I was having a conversation with a coworker about color, design and inspiration. She tends to look at things from a structural perspective, whereas I tend to look at things from color perspective.
Take, for example, the photograph of the Morning Fog.
Looking at this scene, the first thing I notice is the color. I see the whites, blues and gray, and how those colors flow into one another and create the feeling of the cold foggy morning.
She looked at the photograph and saw the interplay of the structures of the trees and how their barren branches created a sense of starkness. To her, those structures would STILL be barren and stark if it were a black and white photograph.
A valid point, yes; but, what if that same blue/gray fog were on the ocean with a ship instead? Wouldn’t you still get a sense that it was a winter fog because of the color and the feeling that you’d get from seeing that? We debated that point for quite a long while.
It then shifted to inspiration and how inspiration can be found in the simplest or most ridiculous of places. I explained how I found this image to be inspirational to me for other things such as for a yarn color and showed her the Morning Fog roving photograph. She agreed that was a good use for the inspiration.
We then began talking about what was the funniest thing we’d drawn inspiration from, and mine was a pigeon. Yes, a pigeon here in the city. I photographed this little guy sitting on a statue a while back. When I saw this photograph again, it reminded me I had some hand spun yarns in the colors on this chest feathers.
The Area 51 and Amethyst Mist were paired because of this photograph of a pigeon. That was the inspirations for this:
So, my question for you is: What do you find inspiring? Where do you get your inspirations from? What was the craziest thing that’s inspired you to do/make/create something?
Janet
Colour inspires me, too! The colours in my latest warp were inspired by this quilt I saw on someone else’s blog, and I’ve taken other warp combinations from pictures in magazines from time to time as well.
Mar 20, 2009 @ 12:41 am
kitkatknit
I borrow from the masters. I like to get my color inspiration (though I don’t always use them) from the palettes of Van Gogh in his interpretations of Japanese prints and Wayne Thiebaud’s land and city scapes.
I initially noticed the play of positive and negative space in your fog photo.
Mar 20, 2009 @ 1:19 am
jackie
I think that I’m a structure first person too. At least as far as the morning fog photo goes.
BUt then I notice the colours.
Inspiration comes from everywhere for me. Sometimes it is just looking at the yarn in my stash. Sometimes it is something as silly as large packing bubbles. (actual project that I am currently working on) My first Handspun scarf was a response to someone telling me that you are suppose to keep your first skein for good luck. Being one to never spit in the eye of potential good luck, I decided to weave it!
But I’ve never had much inspiration from a pigeon.
Mar 20, 2009 @ 5:06 am
Chris
His chest feathers were really that color?! Wow.
Mar 20, 2009 @ 7:20 am
Roxie
Pigeons are wonderfully colored critters.
Sometimes I get my inspiration by turning things backward. I had a heroine spin her gold into straw and weave a pack-basket from it to carry it safely through bandit territory. The bandits stole her food, but didn’t look twice at the basket.
Sometimes I get my inspiration from mistakes. I was doing a circular knit and twisted it. I started wondering how to get half a twist in it and wound up knitting a moebius strip. They make great scarves!
Craziest inspiration? I had some mottled brown/grey/beige handspun yarn and when I glanced at it, it looked the same color as an octopus. So I knitted a tea cozy with 8 tentacles and called it a turtleneck sweater for a small octopus. Which is so silly because everyone knows an octopus would never wear a turtleneck sweater. Makes their necks look too short.
Mar 20, 2009 @ 8:00 am
Mary K. in Rockport
My current project is a hat for a little girl and, as I was knitting along, I realized that I had chosen Big Bird colors – bright yellow, orange, pink and purple. Pretty garish.
Mar 20, 2009 @ 9:02 am
Carrie
I’m all about structure first, unless there’s red in the picture. Then it’s just hot.
It’s too bad pigeons are so yucky, because they really are decently cute.
Mar 20, 2009 @ 10:03 am
lisa
I get inspiration EVERYwhere! But don’t do to much about it except daydream about what I COULD make! When I see that photo of yours, it is the texture and patterning of the tree branches I see, but it is not starkness, it is growth/breath/life. It reminds me of the fractal patterning in our lungs, how the tubes all branch out to the tiniest little air sacs. But in the pigeon photo it is the color that stands out to me, glossy purple and green with a punch of orange. And softness. I can almost feel the softness of its feathers, and how puffed out it is, and how though a large bird it is light and airy. So, check out this pic by an old german botanist, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinophyceae. For years I’ve been inspired by the one in the lowest center portion… first I wanted to make it as a pot in clay, then as an armored knitted thing (think Debbie New and her vest that she armored w/ glue), then as a lace armored thing, then maybe in steel wire. I think some of the others would be incredibly FABulous knitted head pieces for costumery, as in Mardi Gras…
Mar 20, 2009 @ 7:22 pm
Kathie Kelleher
My inspiration comes from my visual observations. I’m very visual. Color, texture, value- you name it, I’m noticing it.
Everything I see, leads my thoughts to wandering and then I start making connections.
I also have a brother and a dear friend who help push my ideas even further as we brainstorm together (they’re both very creative!).
My favorite quote is:
Imagination is the Reality of the Dreamer.
I’m that dreamer!
Mar 20, 2009 @ 9:19 pm
Duffy
Shapes inspire me, especially those that combine mathematics with nature, like flowers. Lately I’ve been really attracted to the interpretation of nature’s shapes in Islamic patterns. Combining that with color then creates so much potential for new designs.
Mar 21, 2009 @ 10:01 am
Ginger
Well, I suspect the responses on this topic will be a bit longer than normal
Nature inspires me, in form and color. My dawn walks give muted color with soft focus, the same walk in late afternoon shows a garishness that I cringe from. From the walks come snippets and phrases of description that goes in my ever-present notebook, then sometimes become haiku, or a poem, or possibly an essay or quilted piece.
Mar 21, 2009 @ 2:18 pm