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Where do you find inspiration?
I've been working on a few artistic endeavors recently, and have found myself grasping for inspiration. Tildes has such a lively group of creators, as we see many put on display every year in November, and I'd love to know where you all draw your inspiration from! I'm leaving this purposely vague, anything is on the table: people, places, objects, ideas, music, whatever!
I've been not in a great mental state. So everything kind of died internally for a while. Nothing was interesting or inspiring. But I'm a lot better now and I want to regain what I lost. Art wise.
So I've been putting aside one day a week to go somewhere interesting or different alone. It doesn't have to be specifically art. It can be museums about the war. Or explore a particular hidden passage people don't know about. Going hiking counts too.
The most recent one I went to was on a whim. I just looked at Google maps for the nearest art galleries around and went to the closest one that seemed interesting.
It was fun. I met the owner of the gallery and had a nice chat with him. Talked about art got inspired by some of the art. They was a lot of mixed mediums going on and I loved that.
Afterwards, I bought a medium sized canvas to paint on because I want to try paint bigger! Like all those artworks I saw!
I'm going to do it! If it goes well, I'll go even bigger! BIGGER!
That's awesome!!!! I really like that idea, new places can be so inspiring! My partner and I joke that I get into deep ruts: like I'll go hike the same route at the same place a few times a week or go bike the same trails at the same time of day a few days a week. I'm going to try picking at least one new route each week! Thanks for the idea!
And if you'd be up for sharing I'd love to see what you end up creating!! Totally understand if you want to keep it personal as well though!
Oh! Yeah. Picking a different route once a week sounds like a good idea.
I might steal that idea and try going home on a different route once a week.
It's easy for me to get in a rut too. I'm a creature of habit and am capable of doing the same thing everyday. I also end up never leaving my apartment for days. So just getting out there and seeing things is good for me.
I don't know how good my painting will be! If it turns out decent, I don't mind sharing!
You can share what you end up making when you get inspired too. I'm curious! If you want to that is.
My main creative output is music. I get inspiration from:
What has given you inspiration in the past?
Those are great places to draw from! I can imagine most folks have a goldmine of energy and emotion from the pandemic period, that's a great suggestion!
I'm trying to get back into physical mediums - getting time at the pottery studio and subsequently more illustration to help think things through. Historically it's been from other artists - I really like the kind of gross, funky, trashing styles associated with skateboarding and surfing. Barry McGee or Ed Templeton always come to mind. Or the more up beat style of outdoor enthusiast artists like Wyatt Hersey or Natalie Andrewson. Fun and bold.
Funny enough after I asked the question I went down a Frog and Toad rabbit hole trying to make their adventures line up with some of the things I do in the community here. That has been very fun. I'd like to make a backsplash tile set if things work out.
I’ve always found that I need a good three days of sinking into myself to reinvigorate my creativity and hear the whispers within. I think what prevents many people from being creative or expressing their internal world is that they don’t allow this kind of days-long meditative self-exploration.
So if it’s time to write a stage play or a novel or build a world I take myself away for a few days to find my own rhythms and see what my depths have to tell me. You can’t really shortcut this process.
So, rosco, what that means tomorrow is I plan to head in what I think is your direction on the central coast to climb from Kirk Creek to Cone Peak in Big Sur. Really crawl inside my head. No music and no external inputs except for the natural world.
As a professional caregiver the holidays are always a lot of work and no enjoyment for me. I only got the week of Christmas off this year and I was fighting a fever the whole time. So I have yet to be able to take time to myself and reset.
I love that idea! I often suggest similar "medicine" to friends who are feeling burnt out. For me, Joshua Tree is my favorite reset. Something about dispersed camping in the desert, especially if the night sky is putting on a show, put things into perspective and can reset my rhythm.
A quick note if you're headed to Kirk Creek from the north - highway 1 is closed from Slates to Lucia - effectively cutting off Kirk Creek. If you're coming up from the south, no worries! Should be a quiet weekend as long as folks displaced from the fires aren't also looking for a reset. If that puts the kabosh on your weekend plans, I recommend Ventana Wilderness from last minute spots. I'd also be happy to put you up for the weekend, but I am down with the flu at the moment (but on the mend!) just to make sure you're aware as you add that to your weekend calculous!
Ooo thanks for the heads up. I knew I would have the long way round coming from the north but I didn’t think SoCal had access from the south. You are right that the place might be overrun with wildfire refugees. They don’t need me competing for space.
I might just stick with Pico Blanco, if it is open. Or poking around at Garrapata. I’m also thinking of a long Sunday hike at Wilder Ranch, to try to connect it to Empire Grade.
I have a years-long project of attempting to hike from my house in SF to Santa Cruz. I’ve gotten 100 miles of the way, to just north of Boulder Creek. But then walking on the shoulder of Highway 9 and Empire Grade for 20 miles bums me out. Still looking for the magical through-route in the Santa Cruz mountains. I don’t think it exists.
I had that flu over Christmas. Get well! Thank you so much for the hospitality offer! If you ever find yourself up here in the city feel free to get in touch!
Nice, those all sound like great options!
My pre-covid goal was to bike from SF to LA along highway 1, stopping and staying at all the lighthouses. Have you ever checked out Pigeon Point or Montara Lighthouses?
Yes, I've got a deep connection to Pigeon Point. The first place outside of the house we stayed with my newborn daughter. Years before, after I graduated from UCSC my first stage play was THE SOB, set in an abandoned lighthouse based on Pigeon Point.
I've attended events at Montara, but never stayed. I live in the Outer Sunset so I can just walk down to Ocean Beach and be in Pacifica by lunch, then up and over Mt. Montara and have dinner in Half Moon Bay.
I like your plan. Riding north to south gives you that awesome tailwind. Hope you can put it together, maybe after (if) Hwy 1 ever re-opens.