inspiration

I was so honored this week to discover that one of my photos (you'll recognize it from the header of this blog) was the inspiration for a painting by a complete stranger.  The day after I opened my redbubble shop, my photograph September Sea was (amazingly) featured on their front page.

An artist from Germany,  Eckhard Besuden, saw my photograph and wrote to me.  He said it brought back memories of his brother, who died at the age of 16 but who loved the summer sea.  "He loved the summer waves and you have made a shot of just that summer sea with blue and yellow. That impressed me very much and touched my heart."  And so he re-envisioned the blue and yellow and created his own summer sea.

I've been so inspired by the amazing photographers and artists I've met here in blog-land and on flickr, and I'm so humbled that my work has touched someone else.  That's what it's all about.  Thank you!

You can find some of my work, and Eckhard's, along with thousands of other photographers, artists, writers, and creative souls, on redbubble.  Support your favorite photographer or artist by purchasing their work.  It puts beauty in your hands and dinner on our tables. xoxo

artistic inspiration

My cousin Pam is one of the dedicated followers of this blog, and also a regular commenter (thanks Pam!) When I was 12 years old she came to spend the summer with us and work in my parent's restaurant, and I developed an instant girl-crush on my funny, pretty, quirky older cousin. I wanted to BE her -- she was so cool, she even looked good in the brown waitress outfit she had to wear to work. And when she caught me smoking upstairs in our 100+ year old house, she managed to convince me it was a stupid idea without making me feel stupid. How did she do that? A gift, I think. She also wrote with these really fantastic Lindy pens that I can't seem to find anymore, but that's another story.

So it was really amazing when Pam said that one of my photos inspired her to paint -- Pam is a talented artist and illustrator. She had gotten her inspiration from a photo I took of the sky over Barnstable Harbor -- one of the first photos I took when I bought my first camera last winter. I get inspiration in so many surprising ways, and I'm glad I could inspire someone else! Here are the photo and resulting painting. As Pam would say -- yay!

Click the image for a larger view