Today's Daily Dose of Inspiration - Mottled Color

Through My Eyes- The Fungus Among Us

Here are some fungus that inspired me over the last week and some handmade Etsy items that I imagine could be inspired by the photo (disclaimer: I don't actually know what inspired these items, but I am just illustrating how you can take some of the characteristics of the mushrooms/fungus and how they could be translated into art). I tried to find items that didn't scream "Mushroom" to help illustrate how you can use more abstract ideas to find inspiration. Sorry this is kind of a long post, but it's mostly pictures, so hang in there and scroll down to see it in it's entirety. All of the mushroom/fungus photos were taken by me.

I can see the mushroom gills in this beautiful brooch by Tinctory.etsy. The shape, colors and texture are a perfect representation of the mushroom half pictured above.


This one inspired me to think about the mushrooms as a family in their log home. The closeness of the mushrooms and the way they tend to group together inspired me to create the series of pen drawings which I colored digitally. Now while I did use actual mushrooms in the drawings, the real inspiration was the thoughts of closeness and family. I broadened the idea into a set of mushroom illustrations depicting different types of families.

Here's a very cool micro sculpture by elementclaystudio.etsy that could have been inspired by the closeness of mushrooms/fungus. I love the way she interpreted it into a sphere and kept it a simple white. Again taking the idea and even the shape of a mushroom, but expanding on it.



The photo above immediately made me think about frills. I wonder if they inspired the first frills. Here is a fantastic clutch by ElenaMakesThings.etsy. The frill is a lovely translation of a single fungi using the wavy shape and the lovely color gradation.



This brooch by kjoo.etsy could easily have been inspired by the fungus above. Although the colors are very different, you could see the inspiration through the lovely shape and the layers. It really has a wonderfully organic feel.


These wonderful podlike fungi are crazy inspiring to me. These lovely stacking rings by erinbowe.etsy when put together, remind me of the way the fungi is arranged. While the spheres are not uniform, the differences in texture add a lot of interest and an organic feel. The dark patina of the rings is also reminiscent of the log that serves as home for the fungus.



How will these fungi inspire you. Remember to look beyond the obvious. Please feel free to link to items inspired by mushrooms, fungi or any of the photos in this post!

Another Challenge - Be inspired to build a House!

Well so far, I have spent my labor day building houses! But it's been a labor of love! The boys and I spent much of the long weekend outside collecting all kinds of bit so f nature (as usual) and today we layed them out to and were trying to see what we could make with them.

We had tried to do some spore printing after reading the Resurrection Fern Blog and it was a big fail, so I had this big mushroom cap and I tore off a piece of it to take a closer picture and set the cap down. When I looked back at the cap, it looked like a cute little hut perfect for a gnome, a snail or maybe a smurf. Of course the wheels started turning and I was sure that the creature that would live in the hut wouldn't be satisfied with a boring abode, so we made a few modifications with the treasures we found on our walks. Here are the different models we came up with (the one above "Helicopter" and it's my favorite):

The Pine Cone

The Queen Anne

The Tulip Poplar

The Pine Branch

The Conifer

The Acorn

The Walnut

The Weed

I hope you enjoyed checking out my labor day work! Which one would you live in? Here's a challenge for you. Take found items and make your own little house. Try not to buy anything at all. Then post a link in the comments or send me a picture and the story behind your house (what you used,what inspired it, how you made it, who lives in it, etc.. ) and I'll post it here! happy building!

Update!
Here's a little treasury I put together to help inspire your houses!

Inspired Results from the Weekend Challenge

Here are some of the great results from my Weekend challenge. The boys and I made little art pieces wherever we went which included the river, the beach, and our own backyard. Hopefully people appreciated the little works of art and maybe added to them or were inspired to create their own. Here's what we came up with:















Amanda from Amanda's Musings and Polyclarific.etsy had a very similar blog post in June and was kind enough to share the link. In the blog post, she celebrated Andy Goldsworthy and his naturalist art and creates some lovely natural displays. Amanda's in Australia, so we get to see some interesting vegetation that you wouldn't see in the states. Here are 2 gorgeous pictures I borrowed from her post, but I highly recommend that you follow the link and red it for your self. It's a feast for the eyes and the mind! Thanks Amanda!!


Jen from YummyandCompany.etsy lives in Baltimore, so she found some decidedly different items to create with, but the end result is still fantastic and is sure to bring a smile from any passerby.












Forgot to send me your pics? Feel free to send your photos to me or link to them in the comments and I will add them as well!

A Little Weekend Challenge - Curbside Art

It's coming down to the last week of summer and of course the boys are bored out of their minds at this point. It takes a lot of my thought power to come up with creative things to do. Today we decided to make a little curbside art. I sent them off to collect little nature bits from around our house and then we set up little works of art on the curbs around our street. It kept the boys busy for awhile collecting and it was fun to see what they thought was interesting enough to add to our art. The residual cool part was that our neighbors would see our little installations as they came home from work and hopefully enjoy them too!

So, I challenge you to so the same thing this weekend. Collect little bits from the immediate area around where you live. Arrange them into some kind of art display on a curb or someplace where your neighbors might find it. Of course, take a photo or two. Post a link to your photo in the comments. I will post them here. I think it will be fun to see the different types of things people find from place to place.

While we were arranging, I happened to look up and see this heart shaped knot in the tree that I've never noticed before. I like to think that the tree was enjoying our art too!


Updated: I thought I'd help you out by showing you some curbside art we did back in July. I really love how the black pavement in the first shot adds texture and interest.

Be Inspired to Create a Series & a Sneak Peek

I thought I would share a little sneak peek at some tiny things I'm working on today. They are all tiny pieces that will soon hang from a branch necklace and join my "Out on a Limb" Series. They were all inspired by Spring and obviously by things that may be found hanging from a branch. I hope to have them all in the shop some time next week. I don't tend to have the patience to create a series, so this is a big step for me. I often have grand ideas about expanding a design into a series, but rarely do I follow through, so I'm proud that I continued with this one. I'm having fun thinking of new tiny dangles to add and I'm trying to make sure that each has a special meaning behind it. So stay tuned for the rest of the series to be completed. if you have any suggestions for future additions, please feel free to comment (I've learned to take suggestions after following the advice from my last artist interview...Thanks MIL)

Here's what they looked like before painting:



Here are the current necklaces in the series:

The First Leaf of Spring









Motherhood











Home Sweet Home











The Last Fall Leaf









The Last Acorn











Take some time this week to think about creating a series. Maybe do something like I did where you make a small change to an original design or create different items surrounding a central theme. Link the items through color, imagery or materials used. A series is a great way to learn to expand on an idea and to help you be more disciplined and focused. If yuou have a series, link to it in the comments and let us know what inspired it!

Inspiration From a One of My Photos

I started this blog as a way to explore artistic inspiration, to keep my self inspired and to hopefully share what inspires me and maybe even to inspire someone else to create something... anything. Imagine my excitement when I found a post on Kim Cavender's wonderful blog showing a beautiful polymer clay brooch made by Oksoon. As soon as I saw it I thought it looked amazingly like a photo I had taken last year of some strange multi-colored berries that we found while on a walk . I started scrolling down as I read and sure enough there was my photo and Kim noted that it had inspired the brooch. How cool is that? My heart is honestly swelling with pride. I'm so excited that all my crazy macro photo taking is not in vain, and so thrilled that someone would be inspired to create something from one of my photos!

So, this is just a little more fuel for my fire to keep on keepin on with this blog! I'm hoping you all continue to follow along with me. If you are ever inspired to create anything from one of posts, please feel free to contact me at blockpartypress@yahoo.com and send me a photo. I will be more than happy to feature it here and I will send you a free item from my shop as a little thank you once it's posted!

Here's the photo that inspired the brooch:



I hope it inspires you too!