Friday, February 19, 2010

What Inspires You ???


I started a little series of paintings this week which feature my usual muses, flowers and vintage décor. When I start painting I like to have everything mapped out ahead of time from the colors to the placement. I can picture the finished product in my head before I ever pick up a brush. I was unsure how I wanted to decorate the little cracked eggs. I couldn’t leave them white but I wanted to keep them simple. Then I remember my great-grandmothers Easter eggs, she used onion peels to dye her eggs. They were a beautiful copper color.
My great-grandmother Bertha was an amazing lady. I have so many wonderful childhood memories because of her. She had a beautiful front porch lined with old green rocking chairs, hanging baskets and wind chimes. She would set up little tea parties on her porch for me and my sister featuring cheese balls and fresh iced tea. I would sit on the porch for hours and draw, it was so peaceful and the sounds of the wind chimes were so pretty. She always had her fridge stocked with mini Snicker bars, glass bottles of soda and she made the best spaghetti sauce ever. We usually slept over at her house on Saturday nights. My sister and I would play Barbies on her living room floor while the three of us would watch the Golden Girls ( I love the girls). When you would wake up in the morning she would have breakfast started and everything smelled so good. Every Christmas my sister and I would help her decorate. I think that is when I first fell in love with antiques. She had a beautiful silver tree and ornaments. Her decorations were the inspiration behind many of my holiday paintings.
My great-grandmother has inspired me in so many ways, my love of flowers, antiques, art and life. Who or what inspires you?

8 comments:

  1. Hi dropping by from Friday Follow. I just followed you, hope you can come by sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love how you talk about your grandmother. Mine was not the creative sort...unless you consider making decorations out of the cardboard from cases of beer creative, but I still vividly remember being at her house.

    What inspires me...my children and nature!

    Your painting is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Heather, I enjoyed reading this post because it reminds me of my grandmother who was an artist. My grandmother always had fun activities going on for all the grand kids (coloring, sewing, crafting, whatever). Just like your great grandmother, my grandmother always had great snacks (Jello with fruit, ice pops, homemade cookies, etc.). Those were the days!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Holly, my kids inspire me too, most of the time to be a better mother and person but there are those times when they inspire me to buy ear plugs and move to a remote island. Lol

    Liz, when I was writing that post all I could think about was the food she made or kept in her house. I held back a lot I didn’t want people to think all I did there was eat or all I talk about is food.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you so much for the tag! However I could use the links below your photo to check out the other people that you have tagged. It might be just me but I wanted to let you know just in case it was not.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I just loved reading about your memories of your Grand Mother!! How cool that she dyed her eggs with onion skin too! Your painting is lovely! I'm sorry that you guys lost your crab so early as well. It's such a bummer for the kids!

    Hugs!
    Sandy

    ReplyDelete
  7. Aww that was a sweet post! I never got to meet my great grandparents, and unfortunatly my kids wont get to meet theirs either. It's great that you have those memories.
    My kids inspire me :)

    ReplyDelete

I love reading your comments. I like knowing that I am talking to someone other than myself for a change.