Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Inspiration + Give

I am so excited to share an inspiration of mine. Lisa of Lilfishstudios is incredibly talented.  Everything that she creates celebrates her natural surroundings in the most beautiful way.  Lisa's appreciation for nature is evident in every bit of her work.  She uses natural and recycled materials whenever she can.

Lisa is such an inspiration to me.  Not long ago, she made a holiday dress for her daughter using an antique lace collar.  Lisa posted her project on her flickr page and blog.   I was stunned by the photography.  Early American portraits immediately came to mind.
Photo by Lisa Jordan

As soon as I saw the photos, I emailed Lisa and asked if I could sketch them.  She gave me the go-ahead and I made two drawings of her project.  As a thank you for the instant inspiration, I mailed prints of the sketches to Lisa.  The whole experience was a complete joy.

To celebrate the experience, I would like to hold a special give-away for the two antique lace drawings.  You can win both prints pictured below.  All you have to do is share your inspiration.

To win, answer these questions...
Has an artist or work of art inspired you to make a certain project?

Who or what was the inspiration?

If available, provide a link to the piece.  If a link or photo is not available, describe your project.

Please provide your email in the response. 

I asked Lisa to share her inspiration as an example of the response needed.   Lisa replied...

Margie Oomen of Resurrection Fern has a way of relating to nature that I admire. When I first saw her work I felt pulled in and curious about how she was using bits of lace and crochet to relate to what she saw in nature. I had never been much of a lace and crochet person but somehow seeing it intertwined with natural elements in her unique style made realize how beautiful it could be.

The piece I made was actually a piece for Margie herself. I made a felted wool brooch incorporating nature and lace, inspired by Margie, in my voice. I chose the colors based on what I thought she might like so it was so fun when she sent me photos right after she opened it. She matched the brooch perfectly that day! 


I will collect all the responses and draw one winner.  The winner will receive two prints.  One for themselves and perhaps the other for the person who inspired them.  It's up to you.  The winner will be announced on Thursday 2/17/11.

Good luck!  Can't wait to read your inspiration!

12 comments:

  1. I was inspired by paper artist Rob Ryan and musician Lisa Hannigan to try the art of paper cutting myself. The simplicity of the materials and the complexity of what was possible just using a knife and some paper captured my imagination and filled me with excitement. Little did I guess when I wrote this post : http://mousybrownshouse.typepad.com/poised-to-take-flight/2010/02/playing-with-papercuts.html last year, that a year later I would still be playing around with paper and would be finding such joy in the results!
    I love Lisa's blog and am so glad I have discovered yours via there today! Your prints are stunning, really beautiful! :D

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  2. oh, i too find lisa so inspiring...she and i exchanged some feather inspiration last summer...she makes me see nature in new ways.

    i came here from her blog..your cooperation is just lovely...i think your use of old journals is just fabulous. i'm constantly looking at ways of repurposing and i'm especially interested in how we layer memories..you're literally doing that, using an old journal. beautiful.

    as for other inspirations, i once saw a beautiful print by sandra juto that manifested itself in my imagination as a pillow decorated with felt. you can read about it here: http://julochka.blogspot.com/2009/03/when-one-thing-becomes-another.html

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  3. Has an artist or work of art inspired you to make a certain project?
    I'm always inspired by Kelly McKernan. She is a beautiful maker of things. I love her work and think each time...wish I could do that. She inspired me to try out watercolor for the first time.

    Her work:
    http://kellymckernan.com/home.html

    My work was a little gnome fellow. He's a mess and too dark for watercolor, but I loved trying it out. I would DIE to be as good as she is. :D
    Scooby_Dooby_doo_2002 aht yahoo daht chom

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  4. Oh! Thank you all so much. It is wonderful to learn about your inspiration and finding new artists is the very best!

    Mousy: I adore Rob Ryan too! I have his book, This Is For You.
    That feeling of joy is priceless. So nice to read!

    Julochka: I love that pillow! A gorgeous, colorful, and modern interpretation. Your photography is amazing too!

    Lacey: Thank you for introducing me to Kelly McKernan's work! I especially love how you mentioned that you loved trying watercolor out. To me, that's all that counts. Thank you so much for sharing.

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  5. I was inspired by an old fairytale illustration based on the tale of six brothers turning into swans a couple years ago. I still am not sure why I choose the materials and methods I did to create my piece but I had a lot of fun doing it.

    My paper/light installation is pretty much loosely based on the illustration that inspired me. Here is a link(sorry it's sort of long)

    http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=547555437656&set=t.1629564332

    I had to throw out my piece about a year ago cuz I had no place to store it. Sometimes I miss it . . . .

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  6. Crooked Sister: I can't view the link :( However a paper/light installation sounds amazing! Thank you for sharing. It is heartbreaking to have to let go of a piece of art. My husband and I had to leave a huge painting behind during a cross country move about 11 years ago. We still talk about the piece and miss it so much!

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  7. first of all hi :) and congratulation on making such amazing art !
    I had already seen your artwork when you had done it & posted it on Flickr. I am a huge fan of Lisa's & she's another crazy talented artist !
    coincidently my response to your question is the same as Lisa (we have lots of great friends in common) : Margie Oomen (http://resurrectionfern.typepad.com) A year ago exactly she had asked me to make a special bunting/garland for her, giving me some guidelines. The rest was inspired by her love for nature & this is what I made : http://www.flickr.com/photos/cozymemories/4362386214/in/set-72157623011095751/
    and very coincidently, I am currently making another bunting/garland .... for the little girl you've drawn on the prints you're very kindly giving away. :D
    thanks again, and have a lovely weekend !

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  8. Blogging is always medium of inspiration. Love your lace drawing. I'm also inspired with Lisa's work. Her wood creation is awesome. I love the cross over of hard and soft. Love Lisa birch bark with wool, it inspired me to make ceramic with wool. Here is one of the posts http://terriekwong.blogspot.com/2010/04/ceramic-wool-cross-over.html
    Thank you for viewing.

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  9. Cozy Memories: Oh! That garland is stunning! I am excited to see the one for the little lady. Thank you for sharing!

    Terrie: It's so true. I also love Lisa's work. Thank you for sharing the brooches! I love the combo of ceramics and felt! Beautiful!

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  10. One of my close friends is Noémie from Noémiah jewellery. I am myself an illustrator, based in Montreal, Canada as well. I work for children publishings but my heart is also very much into fashion. We live close, and see each other often and always find inspiration in each other's creative process. We have collaborated many times already, but the project i am most proud of is her Look Book for spring-summer 2011.

    We started brain storming around the idea of my drawing over pictures of her jewellery, instead of drawing them from scratch, which we had done already. Then came along the photographer, Sebastien Le Photographiste, whom was amazing to work with. And we asked a friend of ours, the illustrator Pascaline Floch (PSKD) to pose for us. The whole project was very clear in our heads. A mix of rock, romantique, geometry, everything spring, rain, flowers, renewal. I had a well defined colour palette in mind stayed focussed on the throughout the shooting and the preparation. I wanted to use colours that are deeply rooted in my feelings about spring and summer. Chartreuse, light peach, light pink, navy blues...The feather jewels of Noémiah are so beautiful, it was really a matter of trying for frame them as beautifully and do them justice.

    The result is very neet if you ask me! Its the first time i have drawn straight on fashion photographies, and it was so fun. I think that the final images really tell a story and also translate all the passion that has been put into them.

    Here is a link to see the mozaique of all of the images: http://tiny.cc/75psn

    hope you enjoy!
    Paule.

    bonjour@pauleillustration.com

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  11. Paule T.B.: "rock, romantique, geometry, everything spring, rain, flowers" I love that! Your collaboration was all of those and then some. Fantastic! The passion is truly evident. Thank you so much for sharing.

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  12. I was featured in a treasury. While I was thanking the lovely lady, I looked at her shop and noticed a purse. I am doing some cross promoting and thought this purse would be perfect to customize and post for sale. I will be using the money from the sale, of this purse, to fund a hands on art exhibit for the blind. Three dimensional celebrity portraits for the blind to view.

    So, I emailed this shop and the woman was so happy just to be able to help she is just sending it for free. She has cancer and is really just wanting to give back. So many have helped her. It is making her happy just to be a part of this. Very touching woman. Turns out we grew up in the same state and lived in a few of the same areas. She is getting me a spot on TV to promote my exhibit. Meanwhile my cousin is kick starting her wraps and caps for cancer patients by sending this woman the first one. I have decided that this particular purse will be sold and the money will go to caps and wraps instead. :)

    I made a very wonderful friend, that I pray for everyday. And the good that has come out of one little treasury is ongoing and that is what community means. Continuing, spreading, and caring, side by side all our shops are closer to our hearts than we'll ever realize.

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