Today a little inspiration with an awesome animated video for Winter Song by Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson. I am not sure who did the animation but it rocks.

I found this photo and it makes me want to paint something with these colors. Though they are not the brightest colors, some palettes need to be subdued. This time of year the colors I am drawn to most are natural ones. dark browns, yellow ochre, deep greens, and burnt reds. Just wanted to get on here and post a little something so just a random thought about colors for now.

This week is flying by, yet at times feels like I am barely moving. I am trying to redefine my blog here, not sure which way to take it. I was following a somewhat loose editorial calendar for my posts for awhile but found that it lacked any excitement and was getting boring and too routine for me. The two very things that can drive me away from doing something very quickly. So I haven’t been having much fun blogging lately which is exactly why my posting has been erratic at best. I am slowly starting to figure out what I want this space to contain. I’ve decided it might not be consistent, it may not follow all the rules but it will be entirely mine and represent me. (a sometimes scattered brained, all over the place, wanting to do everything kinda person) I try my best to keep up.

I am sure over time some consistency and patterns will emerge, but for now every day is a new day with a new look at whatever it is that moves me enough to blog about it.

With that, I have found myself reading a lot more finding little treasures all over the internet and wanted to share a few here with you. Last week I purchased Chris Guillebeau’s Art and Money Guide. Lots of very useful information in there, also features some amazing artists that talk about their journey a bit. One artist who I am happy to have found because of this guide is Michael Nobbs. I spent almost the entire afternoon exploring his website and flickr page, and reading his blog. Worth every minute. One thing that really got me up and drawing again was his 75 ways to draw more. This after already entertaining the thought of filling a sketchbook because of Heather mentioning the sketchbook throwdown.

So needless to say has been a week of awakening my creative side thanks to some nudging from the universe, and stumbling upon some great finds.

A few sketches, I did yesterday…

I didn’t even know about Edward Gorey until my husband started re-reading John Bellairs books. I happened to pick one up one day and started reading it but was finding myself more captivated by the illustrations that accompany each chapter. I love the line work that Gorey achieves, it amazes me at the detail of each illustration that is created by cross-hatching, and lines. The books by John Bellairs are great reads, and worth holding onto for the work of Edward Gorey. Just so happens he is a fellow native Chicagoan too, that was just a coincidence I stumbled upon as I researched Gorey a bit more.