whim or muse?

Do you ever wonder about your inspired thoughts?  
Where they come from or how you can have more~ I do.   

I am often left giggling by the way they work themselves into my life in such diverse ways.  How do they do that?

As I absentmindedly cut shapes and haphazardly placed them on canvas, I wondered where my idea for this project came from.  Had I remembered an old sketch?  Did I see something on pinterest?  Or was I simply grabbing the colors that spoke to me?  

Our creative nests (in our heads and in our hearts) are like this project aren't they?  We are continually gathering our visual likes/loves/bits of colorful ephemera from all around us.  Then we subconsciously shake them up (somehow) and sprinkle the ideas anew in our own art.  

At times the inspiration is instantaneous -- fleeting whims of color, a brilliant new idea, or a thumbnail sketch that seems to be "just right".  The ideas seem to come fast and you can't wait to get started. Have you had those moments, too?

whim:  sudden idea, caprice, conceit, craze, desire, disposition, dream, fad, fancy, fantasy, freak, humor, impulse, inclination, notion, passing thought, quirk, sport, thought, urge, vagary, vision, whimsy...

Other times the inspiration is painfully slow and piecemeal.  Like some of the most important parts are missing?  I see this as a playful muse leaving me a tiny gift each day as the project progresses.  It can be frustrating and time-consuming, but some of the best ideas come from this kind of inspiration.

muse:  think about, dream, be lost in thought, brood, build castles in the air, chew over, cogitate, consider, contemplate, deliberate, feel, meditate, moon, mull over, percolate, ponder, puzzle over, reflect, revolve, roll, ruminate, speculate, think, think over, turn over, weigh...

(so wordy today, lol)

So if the inspiration comes in differing ways, how can we have more?     

I think one (huge way) of inviting more inspiration into our lives is -- taking care of our hearts.   

As artists, we need to nurture our vulnerable and joy-filled hearts (not a simple task).  But, our hearts are our most used artist tool, do you know that?  Having a heart that is open to God's lavish-love creates space for inspiration.  God's love is pure inspiration!  It cultivates compassion towards ourselves (and our art).  It pours out life and love into our daily work with others, and it befriends our holy whims and muses. 

Our hearts are created to be filled with His abundant love - wild and crazy love~ 

abundant, bountiful, copious, effusive, exaggerated, excessive, extravagant, exuberant, first-class, free, generous, gorgeous, grand, immoderate, impressive, improvident, inordinate, intemperate, liberal, lush, luxuriant, luxurious, munificent, openhanded, opulent, plentiful, plush, posh, prodigal, profligate, profuse, prolific, riotous, ritzy, sumptuous, swanky, thriftless, unreasonable, unrestrained, unsparing, wasteful, wild...

Regardless of where you are or what you are going through right now~

You need to know...YOU ARE LOVED.

Yes, yes you are...You are loved.  You are His beloved.  God loves you~ lavishly!  

my self-portrait today - LOL  

God's love not only molds, creates brand-new, and heals artist hearts -- it also makes us very BRAVE! 

It is miraculous how quickly a brave and joy-led heart can grow art -- late-night sketching increases, colors percolate in our dreams, and the shimmers of divine inspiration become daily occurrences.  Have you experienced this divine influence too?

Our creative lives are meant to be lived in bright, bold and brave ways.  
We are divinely created to create!  

I am praying for God's love to wash over all of us today~ to wash right on top of you! 

In His holy whims and muses,

jj