Sunday Inspirations

Today I was awakened by the sound of thunder and rain falling hard....

My plans for the day are built entirely around stitching.... mostly quilting, but I was in the need of a bit of inspiration to get me going. Hmm, I hadn't been pinning very much lately, so I decided to jump on Pinterest and pin some of the quilts hanging at Ephemera.

Once on Pinterest I realized it had been a while since I took a Pinterest Hop -- click, I ran into some wonderful heart shaped rocks -- click, I ran into a beautiful print by Valerie Sims...

From there I was off hopping and found some inspiring print artists --

Flora McLachlan

Flora McLachlan

Hilke MacIntyre

Hilke MacIntyre

Hilke MacIntyre

Jane Walker

Jane Walker

Valerie Sims

Valerie Sims

I enjoyed these artists simple shapes and depth created by the added texture:

hope you enjoy these along with me.

Venturing via Computer

Earlier this week I was asked to share things that inspired me, and to identify styles that I liked. I sort of interpreted this to be asking....

"What makes your heart sing?"
what colors, designs, artists, fabrics..... you get the idea.

Well, I started writing myself notes and got to thinking how to find examples...hmmm?

Then last night it hit me --- time for a Pinterest Hop!
If you have only started following me recently then you may not know what I am talking about so I'm linking to previous hops on SHAPE and COLOR here.
The first pin that I clicked on to repin took me to someone's Things I Love board, so I felt I was on the right track.
That first one was a quote
illustrated by Mara Girling:

The hop began in earnest when I came
across this design by Rene Beauclair --

that led me to Sonia Delauney --

and by the time I found
Eloise Renout I knew I love asymmetry --

I had a grand time venturing this morning, and highly recommend asking yourself...
'what makes your heart sing', then taking a Pinterest Hop of your own.

Enjoy!
~Rose

Pinterest Hopping - For Shape

I admit it, I am a visual person!
I love taking 'a long look' at things and happily finding inspiration along the way.

Since this makes me happy,
I love encouraging people to
stop&take a 360 degree look around.

With Pinterest, it is like giving yourself a special 360 visual treat..
taking a Pinterest hop pushes the doors wide open
and, sometimes WOW!
the inspirational spark happens and you're off...

be open to where a HOP may lead you!

The SHAPE images that grabbed me
on this hop are presented below in the slide show.

Personalize your own free photo slideshow

Can you tell which images got my spark lit?
Leave your answer in the comments & I'll send you off an
ARTIFY - QUILTIFY button!

Happy Hopping!

~Rose

Pinterest Hop - Finding an Inspirational Spark

I am often asked where I find inspiration,
and my answer 'almost always' is..
be open - pay attention to things happening around you.

There seems to always be something new to see..
.and so many places that we can go hang out for an hour or two and find a spark.
No time, you say... well,
think about walking down the hardware isle while at the DIY store,
or maybe the card store,
or the grocery store...what may you find there?

The possibilities are endless -- out there,
BUT what about right here -- right now?

This is why I love taking a Pinterest Hop... finding a little bit of something
that gets my mind 'hopping'.

I'm setting off on a Pinterest Hop today in search of images that tell stories with SHAPE.
Who knows, I might find a new artist or find the perfect inspirational spark!

Please join me!
I'll be posting my finds tomorrow -- right here.
and, if you find a spark you'd like to share I would love it if you would post it
to my Facebook-Like Page.

(here's a little nudge -- one of my own pinned photos from my board - Artified Shape)

'til tomorrow
Seeking the Spark
~Rose

Rose's Filling Station 2013

the first step in the creative cycle is about filling up -
that is filling ourselves up with information and inspiration

the best stuff also involves a bit of perspiration, for once we get ahold of something that inspires us,
our creativity is encouraged to take flight -- soaring off in search of new discoveries.

my plan is to make this space Rose's Filling Station
here, each month I'll be highlighting one of the basic design elements in:

exercises
projects
guest interviews
tutorials
pinterst hops
tool searches
...and a host of other regular features

there will also be on-line workshops
& new e-workbooks to help keep the filling process going

I hope you plan to join in -- there will be plenty on chances,
and I'd love to share what each of you is working on, too!

For January- fill up with me as we head off on the discovery of LINE.

Below is the first of the Pinterest Hop slide shows!

Digital slideshow made with Smilebox

Huh...Pinterest, what?

Happy Sunday everyone ---

I wanted to share with you a little about what I call a Pinterest Hop,
why I love them,
and how I hope you join in, too!

Pinning has become a guilty pleasure for us visual people.
Finding images of things we love, and having a (PIN) board to place them &  know right where to find them.

My early pinning seemed to take on a life of it's own -- it felt like hopping...no sooner would I find and artist's pin before I immediately headed off to find more.

So, I would hop from Pinterest to Bing searches,
back to pinning --- I think you get the Hop part.

Since January is all about LINE, why not Pinterest Hop in search of inspiring artists using line in amazing ways. My own hop is continuing, but I thought I might add couple of LINE hints that might encourage your own Hop.

Here are few examples of how LINE may be used:

Even finding one photo showing line used in each of these ways would be quite a treat....
so hop on!

First Friday - First Pinterest Hop

This first Friday of 2013 finds me still trying to get my act together. January's newsletter went WVSA on me. (wanting very special attention)

But it is now on it's way out into cyberspace, so I'm up for a bit of a treat.

My treat of choice today/
non-fattening of course is a Pinterest Hop.

It always makes me happy and today I'm off in search of LINE examples.

I'll be pinning my finds to my new board -- Month of Art Basics - Line
But, I'm also going to put together a slide show of my finds for Monday.

If you jump in and find images that you love, leave me the link(s) in the comments hereand I'll add them to the slide show.

Here's the basic definition of LINE -- leaves lots of room for interpretation, so have FUN!

Explore Further

Several days ago I was sitting, stumming my fingers at the dining room table, early...early, with coffee in hand. In all honesty I was wandering through Pinterest -- when I came upon a pinboard titled Explore Further.

Love this title, and naturally I dove in to see what wonders could be found amongst its 94 pins.

Finding several must haves, repining began... but I really fell in love with the title.

Exploring Further , to me, this is what life is about.

We search out things that make our heart sing and get our minds spinning.
.

It has been quite some time since I began to cook up the idea of using my blog to do just this thing.

As my life begins to settle my need to explore grows, and in January my blog will start exploring the basic art elements. Each month will be dedicated to one of the elements and there will be opportunities for everyone to jump in.

As we explore we may uncover all sorts of things. Some BIG, some small, but really who is to say.
I want to become a place where peeps could come explore, or be inspired and be encouraged to for their own personal exploration, and share.

As for the pinterest board Exploring and Sharing.....
What would you pin onto this board?

Do you have a subject that you've wanted to delve deeper into -- become the explorer!

Please, please share it here --

Stitching On
~Rose

Open While Under Construction

As the sign says, I'm open while under construction. Welcome to my new blog. It is part of the relaunching of my on-line exploration of creative, inspiring, adventuresome 'stuff'. Over the next month or so I will be laying the foundations so to speak, so the time is right to start follwing me here and stay tuned!

For Today, well as the first day of PIQF dawns I am still all tucked in, coffee in hand...the packing for my move has been left behind, so, I decided to go out to Pinterest and get a little hop going.

Didn't get to far, for my first jump took me to view the work of Charles Arnoldi. I fell in love with his bold graphic shapes and color, and found them really inspiring.

Great start to a grand day of visual treats.

Location:Santa Clara - Pacific International Quilt Show