Inspiration from Emotions - Artist Feature - DiDiGalDecor

Some of us hide them, some share them, and many cannot understand them, but emotions, feelings and moods are a very large part of our lives. Emotions can be very inspiring and very influential in both the kind of art we create and when and why we create it. Have you ever found that is was difficult to use bright, vibrant colors when you were feeling down, or that you needed to use those colors when you are happy? For many of us, emotions are colors; anger is red, sadness is blue or gray, happiness is yellow, etc. and therefore can be easily translated into our work. Texture, subject matter and brush stroke can also convey emotion in your piece. Danielle from DiDiGalDecor.etsy.com used both a past work and emotions as inspiration for her collagraph print pictured below title, "The Moody Blues" . Here is what she had to say about the piece and it's inspiration:
"The Moody Blues piece was inspired by a batik I had done in my high School 3-D art class. The batik process is a wax resist dyeing technique.

The batik had a very similar image of the Moody Blues woman, except there were two of them. You had to turn the batik upside down to see one and right side up to see the other. They were connected by their swirling hair. One was done with warm colors and she was happy, the other was done using cool hues of blue and green and she was sad.

The Moody Blues print is inspired by our ever changing emotions and organic forms. I love circles and swirls and natural shapes. I tried to incorporate those images into the Moody Blues print in the hair and the background of mesh circles.

I find inspiration in just about anything. It could be a song, a piece of paper, a good book or poem.

When feeling uninspired I try to draw out new ideas in my sketchbook, or listen to good music and slowly new ideas will creep into my mind. Sometimes I will just dive into a new project and have no idea what I want the end result to be, I will just go with it and let it evolve naturally.

For those unfamiliar with the term, Danielle explains what a collagraph print is:" a collagraph print (collage+graphic) which was hand engraved with a razor blade and embellished with pieces of sand paper and plastic mesh onto a matte board. The matte board is then sealed, and inked carefully by hand and put through a hand cranked print making press onto damp Arches 100% cotton rag paper."

You can see more of Danielle's work in her etsy shop, DiDiGalDecor.etsy.com, and and don't forget to check out her blog.








Using your emotions and feelings as inspiration can bring powerful meaning to your pieces, so open yourself up and see what happens.