Class 2 - Inspiration: fueling the engine

The trick with inspiration, as with many things, is finding what works for you ~ we may be all humans, but we’re all different. What inspires me might not inspire you. Sure, there are some common themes that make us feel good or compel us to work harder for our goals, such as an act of generosity or recognition, or an inspiring example, but if you want to get further on your path, the key is understanding what inspires YOU and using it to your advantage when you need it.

Below are some things that came to mind for me when I think of inspiration. Circle any of them that apply for you, and create a list of your own unique sources of inspiration if you have any.

What are YOUR sources of inspiration?

And here's the whole page to print out ...  

Here's how the page turned out in my journal:

I also wanted to mention a couple of things from the "art" point of view. As you all know by now, I like to cover my entire page with "stuff", preferably colourful. The photo on the right-hand side was pretty Christmassy, but I liked those red boots, and also because red and green are across from each other on the colour wheel, which makes it visually appealing.

I used red and green washi tape along the edges of the facing page to unify the two pages, and I painted the corners of the diagram box with green water soluble crayon since I'd already drawn red circles around the words while doing the exercise.

I cut the short article from the handouts ("in-spiration") into 4 equal parts and glued them just below each stair tread, then I wrote the word "breathe" onto the photo, which linked back to the article, and kind of echoed the pattern in the wallpaper.

I'm telling you all this because as you develop your style in your journal, you'll also discover your own reasons for which colours you use, and your own sense of composition, and your own internal "language" of images you like to use. I thought it might be useful to hear some of mine so you can become more aware of your own as you go.