Inspiration

A few weeks back, I found the lovely concept of Blog It Forward on sfgrilbybay's blog and thought it was pretty brilliant.  I'm not an official participant, but I thought I'd borrow their blog topic and post about some things that inspire me.

Like books.  I love books.  I get an odd sense of comfort from their presence, and if I'm really stressed, a trip to a bookstore or library does wonders,  And anyone who's ever seen my collection could tell you how I have more books than I have space for them.  Lately I've had to part with quite a few, gifting them to people who will love them, and might keep them for me until I have room again.  It's taken a major effort of will just to part with them, but I've also got a sense that I've freed myself from something.  Namely five rather hefty boxes that I'd otherwise have to take with me when I move.  I've also been into audiobooks lately, largely because I can listen also to them while I work in the studio or do sketches, which I certainly can't do while I read.  Not to mention how little space they take up.... (Lovely photo of books courtesy of austinevan!)

I'm in awe of the natural world.  The hot and humid weather where I live and the mosquitoes may disagree with me, but I'm absolutely floored by the beauty of certain landscapes and nearly every animal out there.  When I was a child, one of my favorite things to do was catch lizards, look at them very closely, measure them and then let them go, like I was a tiny naturalist.  I've been fascinated ever since.  Like the gecko on the right- how could you not be inspired by him?  (Photo of this gorgeous Tokay gecko by Gerald Yuvallos.)

I'm also fascinated by transformation, particularly natural transformation.  As a bright eyed six year old, I thought that butterfly life cycles were about the coolest things ever.  More recently, I went through a period where I was absolutely enamored of the differences between the flesh and the skeleton, and the idea of a single creature passing from one state to another.