Where inspiration comes from

Winter for me is a time of hibernation and renewal, and as the weather gets cold, I find myself wanting to consume books, art, media. More input, less output. As I try to strike a better work/life/art balance (now having settled somewhat into my new job, which is basically the old job on steroids), I do my best to ignore the impulse to be constantly creating, constantly producing. As much as I love making art, this is not my job, my income doesn’t hinge on it at present, and as a society we don’t take enough time for ourselves to JUST REST (shocking concept, I know!)

Also, I find deliberately choosing NOT to paint makes the times I DO paint more productive. As I spend time on other things (mundane, entertaining, or essential), mentally I’m ruminating on the next creative endeavor. Part of this is probably sparked by picking up Missing Out: In Praise of the Unlived Life by Adam Phillips1 , which talks about the benefits of frustration (sounds like an oxymoron, but isn’t.) I spent a lot of my life resenting the mundane things keeping me from X or Y desirable activity, and lately I try to lean into the frustration as anticipation, knowing full well that when I DO get to do the thing, it will be all the more enjoyable.2

So, one quick story and then I’ll move onto the art, I promise. One of my favorite places, and one that inspires me again and again, is the ocean. I’ve been to the coast twice during extra-high or king tides, and it’s well worth the drive.

I wouldn’t say the hubby and I seek out sketchy driving adventures—it’s not as if we’re actively running towards danger—but we certainly had one recently, while taking a day trip to the Oregon coast (Florence/Yachats area) for some rockhounding and beachcombing, king tide-viewing, and an agate festival. Rain was forecast all over, but Oregon’s “liquid sunshine” wasn’t going to deter us from the promise of agates and extreme waves. (We did, however, take the truck and not my tiny car.)

We were not disappointed, and found monster-sized beach agates at our first stop, thanks to the wild tides. Upon arriving at the Yachats Agate Festival, we discovered that the town (indeed, a large chunk of the coast) was without power. This made for an amusing shopping experience, with fellow patrons looking through the rocks and gems with flashlights and phones.

With the temperatures dropping, and the weather reports north of us showing snow and ice storms, we decided an early retreat was in order. After a quick lunch in Florence, we headed inland to Eugene through forests which, as it turns out, an ice storm had just blasted, leaving the trees top-heavy, breaking off and falling across the highway. We helped to clear one tree that blocked both lanes of traffic, and spent the rest of the drive nervously watching for falling debris. Eugene was a mess of snow, and it poured rain until we were almost to Medford, but we made it safely back.

So. Inspiring? Absolutely, I love the crashing waves and wild weather. Relaxing drive? Not so much. I am however quite inspired to make like a hobbit and… stay at home.

I’m happy to report that, thus far, January has been fruitful. I finished three new paintings in the first 15 days, shown above, and I have more in the works.

FIREFLY RISING—7x10”, watercolor on cotton—I painted this on New Year’s Day, commemorating the fourth flight of Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket. While I’m not much for New Year’s resolutions, I try to do something on January 1st that I want to focus on that year. Art feeds my soul more than any other creative hobby, so that’s where I’m putting my energy in 2024.

DIANA PIERCES THE AZURE SKY—9x12”, ink on illustration board—my interpretation of the Apollo 4 launch, the first launch of the Saturn V rocket. I was experimenting with more creative naming on this one, and since I’ve had to explain myself a couple of times: yes, I realize Diana is Apollo’s sister, but she became associated with the Moon as a Roman analog for Artemis, she carries a bow and arrow, and I felt like putting a feminine twist on the title. Not seen in reproduction: nearly every ink I used has some form of shimmer—the piece is much better in person. (I’ll post a video on social media soon.) Prints available!

DAWN OF A NEW ERA—6x12”, watercolor on cotton—another in my series of Art Nouveau/iconography series of rockets, featuring the IFT2 launch of SpaceX Starship and Falcon Super Heavy booster. Originally I planned to add ink lines to the background (keeping with the design of THE FUTURE IS HERE), but I was happy with the piece as-is. Less is more. The borders are silver and copper metallic paint, and I’ll post a video online soon.

Housekeeping note: for those of you already subscribed, the welcome email was supposed to include a discount coupon for my shop and apparently it never did! (Instead it advertised a paid tier that I don’t even have. Yay me.) Reply to this email or send me a message and I’ll gladly give you one.

That’s all for this round, folks.

– Danielle, keeping it nerdy in 2024