A New Year and some new Inspiration

( The first of the January paperwhites)

Wow! Where did 2011 go? I can't believe Christmas blew by so fast and now we are in the second week of January. Unfortunately, botanical art projects are moving at a snail's pace lately. I had a nasty stomach flu which derailed me from the Amaryllis project. That virus was brutal( more so on my youngest child than the rest of us) and would not seem to leave this household no matter how much Lysol I used..Ugh...

With the New Year, there are some new opportunities around the corner. I'm preparing to resume teaching again. I've taught drawing classes on and off over the last 17 years or so but had taken a break after spring of 2011. I am more than ready to pick back up and meet a group of new students. There are 10-12 teenagers who have enrolled for my semester long Foundations of Drawing class at a regional educational Co-op. I can't wait to watch these young artists as they discover just what they can do with a pencil, paper, and a good eraser... :)

I've also noticed that many wonderful art blogs have been writing about finding inspiration. I love reading these suggestions and getting insight into what inspires my art bloggy friends. A wonderful post by Sketchbook Squirrel gave us a fabulous glimpse into the V&A Museum's botanical illustrations collection, featuring the wonderful works of Beatrix Potter. It still pains me that I was unable to get there on my trip to England last March. It is definitely a "must see" destination when I return to London. I also enjoyed Jess's post about getting into the creative zone and how she had watched Downton Abbey and Jane Eyre ( two of my favorites as well.) For me, I've been delving into seeds catalogs and watching episodes of Rosemary and Thyme. I've seen all the episodes a number of times but never tire of them.



Another source of potential inspiration just arrived on the Art Plantae Today site. It seems there is a wonderful Botanical Art exhibit headed nearby at the Lloyd Library and Museum in Cincinnati, OH. The exhibit is called Peppers in Image and Word. I just may have to take a drive north to check this out while it's there.

A bit closer to home, as in around the corner, my own library has a copy of a book by Celia Fisher that has my interest called Flowers of the Renaissance. I hope to get my hands on the copy this week and get my own creative juices flowing.