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My biggest challenge is in searching for the thing or things that will inspire me. And the inspiration might be to be more creative this week or more dedicated to cleaning off my desk at work (well maybe that one will take a little more enthusiasm).

Sometimes, it takes a ridiculous thought or a phrase from a song that kicks off the process for me. And truly, where have all the flowers gone, now that is has started to snow here in Michigan.

Flowers represent color and texture and how interesting it is to mix these, maybe total opposites, in a garden bed, and find out it wasn’t so crazy.

So I have to look beyond the flowers at the moment and seek out other sources of inspiration. That inspiration can come from things like decorated pillows; appliqués to beading, stitching to painting. I look at the colors and textures and see what others are doing.

Same for shoes, belts, purses- maybe scarves and jewelry. They all have interesting touches. Look at trends in interior decorating. My favorite- Catalogs selling items from near and far. All of those things get me to look at other ways of creating- or taking an idea from any of these places and seeing if it can work on a package or as an embellishment or “ribbon” treatment.

I look at Michigan winter time, which traditionally forces a slower pace, to try something new. As an informally or formally trained artist, I push myself to take a class in an art medium that is radically different than what I do everyday.

First, there’s always the chance to learn a new way of expressing yourself, even if you discover the medium is not suited to you. On the other hand, it may be a pleasant surprise to find that you like it and maybe want to dabble a little bit more in that area just to see what percolates. Ultimately, it may even turn out to be your life’s ambition.

So if you are lucky enough to have flowers, get out there and smell them, touch them and draw inspiration from them.

And if you are like me, think out of the box and try something new. You just never know.

I don’t know how you feel on Monday.
  
I’m usually looking for inspiration for what I know will be the week ahead. I’m tired and not really working on a full tank of anything quite yet. Better yet, I’m just plain under-whelmed and under-enthused for what lies ahead.
  
One of my favorite writers, Bob Talbert, had a way of getting you to check in every Monday morning. He wrote a daily column and on Mondays, his Southern heritage certainly worked its way into his columns.
  
Maybe it was the way he said Mornin’ and it came out Moanin’.  But it certainly had the effect on you, that got you to get the bad out of the way, and get ready for the good that was certainly about to come.
  
I just looked forward to how his readers would send in comments that echoed parried or plain out disagreed with the ideas or issues that he wrote about. And that kept readers like me looking forward to what would be there to read on Monday Morning.
  
So here’s the great thing about fast forwarding to the technology age- you can talk right now and not have to wait a week to see what others had to say.
  
And with that in mind, I decided what I had to do was start a blog. To talk with all of you and to share what comes into my head. And I want to hear back from you so it is not all me talking to myself- I get enough of that in the shower. So pls blog back! You can indicate if you want it posted or not.
  
Since Monday is theoretically my day off, I’m supposed to use it to plan for the week ahead. Sometimes I’m still stuck in the week behind. Either way, I figured I could put something out there for Monday morning readers for whatever direction you’re coming from. 
  
Come on back and see what is happenin’ here. (I’ll stop it with the ‘. I promise.)