art inspiration

You Cut Through All the Noise- artwork inspired by Bastille

Posted on by FablesandCoffee

The Anchor by Bastille inspired artwork

I take inspiration where I can get it, whether thats when i’m out exploring (and who can forget that time I had the bf pull over while we were driving around Big Bend National Park to try and sketch some of the mountains out there that caught my eye….in 100+ degree weather), through books I read, magazines I pour over, websites I spend too much time on (tumblr, you hell-site) or of course, through music.

Generally, I listen to anything and everything I can get my hands on, usually through exposure from playlists people make over on 8Tracks ( you can go take a peek at my playlists collection here if you’re curious) but a couple of months ago the bf brought home the latests album from the band Bastille and it caused a flurry of inspiration in my mind. I love the band for their creative approach to songwriting, musical experimentation and of course their lead singer Dan Smith’s vocal talents and by the time I had reached the end of the album I was clutching a bunch of new favorites. The Anchor is the second to last song on that album and… I couldn’t quite say what it was that stuck with me, but it dug deep. I remember listening to that song on repeat for what felt like days on end until I found myself with free time on a Sunday and there I was, sketching out the lyrics. And then a couple of days after that I was fumbling with my colored pencils, blue smudged all over my hands and my arms sore from detailing swirl after swirl. Surprisingly even after the hours I spent working on this, I still really love the song.

( Obviously the art doesn’t do the song justice but, it was lovely to see the way the song made me feel expressed out on paper. )

~m

Art Journal Monday- We Are An Army That Breaks From Within

Posted on by FablesandCoffee

How is January almost over?

I feel like I blinked once, twice and by the third time the month had rushed on by. Any plans I had to wander around the DFW area this month have taken a backseat to art projects, catching up with friends, obsessing over Yuri!!! On Ice (and that last one was completely unexpected let me tell you), working on writing projects and getting my work out routine back on track.  Also tack on watching way too much HGTV with the bf and drinking so many fruit smoothies I’ll probably start having dreams of strawberries soon.

Music on Repeat:
Moscow- Autoheart
Goodnight Gotham- Rihanna
Nuvole bianche- Ludovico Einaudi
12 Violin Concertos, Op.4-“La stravaganza”– Vivaldi (if you’ve about an hour or so to spare, give it a listen)
Prosthetic Love- Typhoon
We Don’t Eat- James Vincent McMorrow
Death of a Bachelor- Panic! At the Disco
Varúô- Sigur Rós

~m

I Have Seen Mountains- Sunday Art

Posted on by FablesandCoffee

fablesandcoffee art fablesandcoffee art

Of all the places I enjoy traveling to in the USA, from the big cities that burst with life (San Francisco, NYC, Boston) to sleepy coastal villages (Mendocino, Ft. Bragg, Augusta) and all of everything in between, anywhere that has magnificent mountains will always take 1st place with me.

Last year was a drought year when it came to art, and this piece was the only landscape one I worked on the whole time- started it sometime after coming back from the March road trip, lost inspiration and picked it back up at the end of June after the trip to Big Bend Natl. park and then didn’t look at it again until after the last road trip in October to give it some finishing touches, still unsatisfied. After unearthing it again this past weekend though- to give it one last pass through- as I re-inked some lines and brushes away colored pencil dust, i think i’m content with the way it turned out, if not how long it took to finish.

Definetly looking forward to creating more of these this year, especially with the chance to get up close and personal to some real mountains come March.

~m

What Is to Give Light Must Endure Burning- Overspill of Inspiration, Texas

Posted on by FablesandCoffee

Perhaps its not always true, the title of this post. Maybe there are people out there who can shine shine shine without ever burning up, they just exude brilliance in their every waking moment and it’s effortless. But i’m neither effortless nor brilliant so, when I shine even just a glimmer, I burn like i’ve got a trail of gasoline tied to my feet.

Usually the trail burns slowly (or it’s a rather long one) and I can keep the glimmer up for a good bit before it’s all burned out and I need to go find matches to light up once more. And in general it wouldn’t be so terrible,this habit of burning up and out I have, if the expectation wasn’t there to continuously keep going, to illuminate always and forever.

But it is, and not just from myself (though heavens knows the pressures I put on myself to never make a mistake in literally anything I do is a bit of a doozy all on it’s own). Anyways, where am I going with this? Basically after the end of the last series of posts I did, I was meant to go on another roadtrip this past weekend, to Colorado this time. But my burning hot trail of energy finally curled in on itself and died and so the trip was put aside and instead I used the long weekend to get myself back together again. And so the reason for this is with regard to the new followers I gained while posting on those last adventures. I have upcoming travel plans, for sure’s, but there’s also a whole mess of art nonsense I post and sometimes the energy I fire it up with is more like embers at the end of a winters fire than a sun’s passion. So this is my cordial heads up.

Now, on those upcoming travels I mentioned….

End of June- road trip down to Marfa, TX to explore the weird lights, interesting art installations, wander around Big Bend Natl. Park and take a peek at the ghost town of Terlingua

October- weeklong trip to NYC (with a day trip planned in here somewhere to explore Boston a bit)  to just soak myself in all the museums that i’ve never really gotten a chance to explore all the other times i’ve visited, as well as satisfy my craving for actual Fall colors in nature.

More small travels will happen between those two, but for now they are the ones that consume my plans.

Songs on Repeat :

Time Lapse– Ludovico Einaudi
First Step– Hans Zimmer
Ba Ba– Sigur Rós
At The Ivy Gate– Brian Crain
Devils Backbone– The Civil Wars
Wendell Walker– Andy Shauf
Concrete Wall– Zee Avi
Niobe– Caribou

not drowning in my coffee cups yet,
~m