This is a relatively short list of my inspirations. If I included everyone and everything this would be the longest web page in history!! So I have narrowed it down to the people and things that I return to constantly to get the mojo working.

I have supplied links where I can so you can go off and explore for yourself, hopefully finding some inspiration too, but don't forget to come back! 

FRIDA KAHLO  I first discovered Frida when I stumbled across the film 'Frida' on TV and instantly felt inspired and intrigued by this very talented lady. Her life story is amazing from a terrible accident as a teenager, to her discovery of her artistic talent and following her dreams, marrying Diego Rivera and having an affair with Trotsky. A true inspiration as a woman as well as an artist. 

 

DIEGO RIVERA I actually knew Diego Rivera's work long before I had discovered Frida's. I love his use of Mexican art in his work and the way he draws on his ancestral roots adding them into his art. He has an amazing sense of colour and I love his story telling. His Murals are awesome.

MAYAN ART You might guess that I am very Mexican influenced! I love the country and the people. I think we all have somewhere (as well as the place we've grown up) that is our spiritual home and Mexico is definitely mine. The sights, sounds, colours and tastes influence me greatly. I am fascinated by the Mayans as well and am always awed by the art that they created all those thousands of years ago. Also check out Mexican folk art for inspiration.

SILVIA ARANA Staying in Mexico just a little longer I would like to introducee you to another inspiring woman, Silvia Arana who is a sculptor working in Mexico today. I met Sylvia through her sister a dear friend of mine and could not believe the work she is producing. She decided to follow her dream later in life and that decision is really paying off. She produces Huge sculptures in all different metals and runs a workshop of men to do it. Her work can be seen all over Mexico and I hope she continues to go from strength to strength.

ART DECO I've always been a lover of this period of art and design. I love the geometric lines and the bold colours as well as the glamour and fluidity of the figures and think the shapes in furniture and architecture are divine. Check out the advertising of the time too, great fun and great artwork.

DAVID HOCKNEY Hockney has been one of my favourite modern day artists for a long time. His style is wide and varied and he seems to re invent his work all the time. I first noticed his work when I saw the swimming pool paintings, I love the colours and the naive style.

 

PABLO PICASSO Another great modern artist and very deceptive if you haven't already seen his early work check it out, he really was a true artist and one of the best places to see his work is his museum in Barcelona (another great city of inspiration!) A trip round the museum is a great journey through Picasso's life and a real eye opener.

CESAR MANRIQUE I very recently discovered the work of this artist on a holiday to Lanzarote (A fabulous island of so many contradictions) And I was truly awe inspired. This mans' vision is second to none and the installations he has all over the island are fabulous. I think he was a visionary way ahead of his time, his ability to work with nature is astounding, oh and his house!! What artist wouldn't want to work in a place like that!

CARAVAGGIO A long time favourite classical artist of mine seeing his paintings made me want to do my study of art a-level. The detail in his work is amazing and he was one of the best painters of light in my opinion. I find his work haunting as well as beautiful.

 

MICHELANGELO One of the true greats and innovators. I have been lucky enough to see a lot of his work in Florence (what a great art trip!) and one of my favourite places is the Medici chapel. To stand in there surrounded by his sculptures is amazing and the detail leaves me breathless. Also in the chapel is a wall of his sketches and notes while he was building it, inspiring and fascinating.

 

HENRI ROUSSEAU I love the style of this painter. He has a great use of colour and I love his naive almost fantasy style. I particularly like his jungle paintings my favourite one being titled the dream.

 

COLOURS AND BEAUTY OF NATURE. No links needed here! just go outside your front door and not just see but really look. The colours of a sunset where the suns rays just edge a cloud how many colours do you see? The forms of a twisted tree, the texture and colours, the colours and shapes of flowers, the shapes the clouds make in the sky. Go for a walk take your camera and be aware, inspiration is all around us!

POETRY  I enjoy using poetry as inspiration in my work. From classical to nonsense, there's a wealth of material out there to provide titles and subject matter. Sometimes the poem will appear in my work as with the transferred text in this piece about the Edward Lear poem the Jumblies. Quotes are another good source of inspiration.

CLAUDINE HELLMUTH And so on to some contemporary artists working in the field of arts and crafts today. I got one of Claudine's books a while ago and love her collage style, she helped to unlock the collage artist in me.

TIM HOLTZ In my opinion this man is the king of altered art! He is the master of ink and grunge and he really opened my eyes to what I had been missing being away from the art world for so long.

 

DYAN REAVELEY This lady is one of our British designers and she owns Blonde moments who produce beautiful papers and the most yummy pigment paints and embossing powders. She is an inspiration not only with her unique style but as a woman and one who has gone out and made the arts and crafts business work for her. (plus she's a Yorkshire lass!!)

JANE DEAN This lady inspired me to start scrapping, I liked the idea of it but knew my work had to be different, I didn't want to follow rules. Then I saw an article in Scrapbook Inspirations magazine from Jane and realised you can scrap 'outside the box' as it were. I love her individual style and busy pages and her alternative art work is pretty funky too!

SHEENA DOUGLASS A recent discovery! What this lady can't do with glimmer, mica and glitter isn't worth knowing! I saw her demonstrate at Ally Pally a while ago, she gave me and mum so much time and was so passionate about the product it was infectious, plus she is a good northern lass to boot! amazing work check her out!

MUSIC  I don't listen to music all the time when I'm working as I tend to listen to it too much and get distracted, weird huh?! But occasionally I love to turn up the volume and sing along to clear the cobwebs. At the moment I'm loving Norah Jones, Feist and KT Tunstall and a bit of Prince for good measure! I also adore Carmina Burana, a good classical cobweb clearer!

MOVIES  A constant source of inspiration can be found in Movies and TV programmes I'm also a sucker for adverts and the idents between shows, there's some great ones that are very scrap orientated! The 3 movies I return to time and again for escapism and inspiration are Frida, Amelie and Chocolat. The imagery in all 3 is very different but equally inspiring and the colours and filmic quality of Amelie is mesmerizing. A recent TV series that I now own the box set of has the same effect and if you haven't seen it try and see at least one episode, it's called Pushing Daisies, the sets, costumes and colours are awesome as is the way its filmed. It's funny and beautiful all at the same time, oh and a little strange!

 

UKSCRAPPERS is a brilliant on line forum here in the UK. A constant source of inspiration and a great way to chat with like minded people. It's so much more than scrap booking and there's lots of challenges to take part in too!

SCRAPBOOKINSPIRATIONS a great UK magazine that comes out monthly and the blogs worth checking out regularly!! 

 

BAD GIRLS This site and these girls are awesome!!! There's inspiration galore on there and their kits are completely divine! Check out the blog aswell for the latest chat and also the brand new inspiration blog Project 52 which is inspiration with a cherry on the top!

I hope you've enjoyed your trip through my inspirations and have had fun checking out the links. I also hope I've given you some food for thought. Why not pop into my gallery to see how I use these inspirations in my work.