Inspiration

I'm a blogging maniac today. I guess I'm feeling inspired to write.

Right now, for one of my grad school classes, I am working on designing a ready-to-wear collection. We're in the target market and finding your inspiration phase. For me, the first thing that inspires my creativity is color. Even if I'm inspired by a place, chances are the colors of that place are the root of my inspiration. My Pineapple Sugar spring 2009 collection, Love Color, was inspired by, of course, color.

But, as I've been working both on my ready-to-wear collection and looking ahead to more collections for Pineapple Sugar and Jocelyn Grace, I realize that color is not inspiration enough to create a cohesive collection. It's just one part of it.

That said, I truly find nearly everything inspiring- art, nature, cities, fashion, music, words, even my vintage milk glass finds. And the thing about inspiration is so random and hits at the weirdest times. Today, as I was working out (yes- my new elliptical rules!) I was struck by inspiration lightning bolt for my ready-to-wear collection. And it began with milk glass (see picture). And from there, I started thinking about some of the scrapbook papers I collect to use as backdrops for jewelry product photos and few of those came to mind. Then I jumped to vintage surf boards and surf culture and Paris. And voila! My collection is inspired! And it didn't even start with color.

I'm patting myself on the back for growing as an artist and designer today. This grad school program definitely gave me my creative groove back.

Once my collection and story board is complete, I'll post those on my blog.