The Art of Inspiration by J. Gracey Stinson

Artists are often asked “where do you find your inspiration?” While it may seem like a simple question, the answers will be as varied as mankind.

Anyone who has visited my website will know that an enormous part of my inspiration is found in the world created by God. He’s been an excellent muse over the years. From the ever so tiny grain of sand, to the towering heights of the lofty pines there are a myriad of inspirations in the natural world. Not only has he given me an endless supply of subjects to photograph, he changes that well-spring from season to season.

Even if you don’t have a spiritual faith, you can still find inspiration in the world we live in. Look at the compositions nature provides; the knots of autumn leaves, berries on a shrub, insects gathered on a smooth-as-glass lake, dewdrops or hoarfrost coating a granite outcrop - all of these have something more in common than just being part of our world.

In nature, many things are grouped together; what I like to do is pick them apart. Not literally, of course, but visually. Get in close and really look at one small bit of the overall element - the reflection in a drop of rain; the mites or aphids on the underside of a leaf; the individual threads of a downy feather.

When you spend only a short while inside the picture you can easily come out of it with many wonderful ideas from abstracts to the scene in it’s entirety.

Gracey