Hey everyone!
I’m currently in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, and I wanted to share this little video about the importance of getting out of the studio to find inspiration (HINT: you’ll often find it in the most unexpected of places!)
Watch the video and let me know what you think – where do you find inspiration?
In gratitude, Nicholas
44 Comments
Hi! I’m
Nicholas Wilton
the founder of Art2Life.
With over 20 years experience as a working artist and educator, I’ve developed a systematic approach that brings authenticity, spontaneity and joy back into the creative process.
Join me and artists from all over the world in our Free Art2Life Artists Facebook Group or learn more here about Art2Life.
This time three years ago I visited Morocco and it was love at first site! Have a great time. I remember I was so inspired.
I am going back for sure–our art2life workshop is going to happen again next year!
Leaving for Santa Fe tomorrow for inspiration and jewelry. Can’t wait for the ideas to come.
OH great Deb! _ I love Santa Fe too
Love the colours too. A country that is on my ‘bucket list’ – hopefully 2018. I have the same struggle to leave home/studio, like a reluctant snail, but once I’m out I want MORE travel
Ha a reluctant snail–very funny…
Love!
Thank you, Ainsley!
Virus-free.
http://www.avg.com
Awesome.
Love this!
Thanks Kathleen
Morocco is wonderful. I went when I was 18 and would love to go back. When I travel now, it’s usually with family and it’s very hard to find time for art making. BUT I always find that when I get back home, something has shifted and it’s amazing how these new experiences or views, or thoughts rise up out of our sub conscious. It can be in the smallest ways or a total shift…. it’s exciting.
Hi Alice! Nice to hear from you… I am already excited to get back to paint …it doesn’t take me long to get inspired..
Very beautiful and inspiring. I think it is important to remind everyone that the inspirations outside the studio can come from anywhere, maybe even your own garden or a nearby park. Just visiting someplace different or viewing a nearby place and changing the way you perceive the space is the key.
Yes for me it is somewhere new…
“This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is
never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever
rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on
sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth
rolls.”
~ John Muir
Every single time I go outside I am inspired by something. Have a wonderful time! May Morocco send your inspiration soaring!
Great quote–I had never read that before..thanks
Beautiful. It’s great to get out and about to have the soul refreshed. Colours and marks that are beautiful are all around us and it’s great to be reminded about what inspires us and seeing how this feeds into our art work.
Thanks!
Hi Nick! This video is so great! It makes me feel like I, too, have gotten out of my studio. And, I LOVE horses and mules! and the blanket colors and pattern is wonderful. Enjoy Morocco!
Oh great Marjorie…perfect..
Great to see that…you are having fun out there. i am also inspired by said blanket on meanish mule! thanks for sharing:)
Yeah it is fun to do these blogs not always in the studio…
Thank you Nicolas for the reminder that beauty and inspiration can be found in the mundane of everyday life . The artist who wove that blanket has an extradinary sense of color . Even a pack mule can can be the catalyst for a great work of art .
Enjoy your trip .
Very stylish mule…
I was totally eyeballing that blanket before you said anything. We sing from the same heart.
Really? that is great…
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5ea00611e09bc1ed10c77bc236eae4c83e89d4afa2650944c9558bace3681bbe.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/51846cb5d743975c042fe991775bf73a2568fdde511e12b521e78a139b2f0d95.jpg
These are the carpets i brought back from Morocco years ago. The ‘paul klee’ one on the left hangs on the wall above my bed.
I really love your Aesthetic Nicholas.
Laura
Great thoughts Nicholas. I am also influenced by the color around me and just moved to a mountain valley totally different from the desert city where I was living, and am excited about the prospect of discovering the colors and textures around me and seeing how they influence my paintings. Also love the colors in that blanket.
That is great Keith–where did you move to?
Cottonwood Arizona, which shares the Verde Valley with Sedona and Jerome.
Thanks Nicholas – very inspiring. It’s not just the blanket. Look at the colors around you!! I am inspired by the blue in the sky and the greens, yellows, and browns of the terrain. And the shadows in the rocks behind you. Then there is that pop of red in your shirt! Wow!
These mountains were fairly desolate but so beautiful nonetheless…
My best inspiration come from nature and watching water, ocean, river, fish ponds, watching light and shadows in foliage, being in a sweeping vista, sunrise and sunset…. and taking this feeling back into the studio. Traveling is the best, as new experiences seem to light up the brain in surprising ways!
“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” -Martin Buber
I am a huge lover of water too…have to be in it or around it!
Thank you for sharing your inspiration, Nicholas!! So timely for me – recently was badly in need of something to revitalize my creativity, then by chance watched a PBS show called Craft in America which featured the Mexican city of Oaxata and the stunning art which is being created there. So this armchair traveller was gob-smacked by the beauty of all those visual riches, and am now very excited to get back to my practice!!!
That is it… you fill up..then creativity comes, then you fill up again…it is a process
Oops, typo – I meant Oaxaca!!
She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride
She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride…..Taj Mahal
Great! love him
I am in the middle of a huge transition, moving home and clinic…missing the serenity of making art regularly. This post lifted my heart, reminded me that creating a new home space will no doubt be reflected in my art when I return. I am designing kitchen, bathrooms, library and living spaces… creating a living space to ‘hold’ my spirit when I’m back in the studio. I absolutely LOVED the contrast of what I am doing right now to what is happening in that snapshot of you and the beautiful spirited and stylish mule in Morroco! That blanket is embedded in me now…I loved the colors, and the differences in line, as well…and the contrast of the blanket design to the many rocks and rugged landscape. I think I’ll capture the zen of it for a meditation area; maybe I’ll create a painting just for that area…. and, well my mind and heart are zinging around with ideas. .That’s my process, noticing contrasting experiences (home or travel) and surprises we find there…
Phyllis, that is such a good take away..and yes absolutely creating a new home space can be the ultimate in home expression and such a blast to do…
I recently traveled to Sedona and came back with so much renewed energy – not only for artmaking but also for appreciating all the little things in my day to day life back home. I visited some ancient ruins with an incredible guide – and just getting to know so much about another way of life had me looking at everything differently. Not to mention the red rock colors out in Sedona are some of my favorite of anywhere I’ve traveled.
Loving this video – and That blanket has such beautiful color, can’t wait to see how it makes it’s way into your creative work! Thanks for this!
I probably will call the painting ” Donkey” Ha!