Coffee Talk: Next week, Inspiration from Tim Burton

Last November, I went to NYC for Thanksgiving. We packed so much into a few days, I haven't blogged about all of my adventures. Most importantly, I didn't have a chance to blog about my visit to the MoMA and the Tim Burton exhibit. Since Alice in Wonderland comes out next week, I thought I'd do an inspiration week on Tim Burton, a modern surrealist.

Last spring, I did an inspiration week on Dada, Surrealism and Salvador Dali as part of the creative process in developing the Surreal Rhythms beads. A style of bead more in the flavor of Dali and Miro. There is a more modern take on surrealism as interpreted by Burton and his many films. Walking through the MoMA exhibit, I was really inspired to see what modern surrealism looks like in film and art and wanted to write a few posts on the entire experience.

Have you gone to an art exhibit that inspired you?

Not Enough Hours and Free Bead winners

There aren't going to be enough hours in the day for me to get everything done I want to! So this is a quick fly by post because the kiln is warm and I have to dip some mandrels before I can melt some glass into beads and glass links today.

The winner for Wednesday's eye bead set is Katie! Congratulations, Katie! Send me your snail mail by clicking on my profile to get my email address.

Today, I'll be thinking Miro - but won't tell you why until tomorrow when I finish up Inspiration Week!



Pretty intense look on his face, huh? Looks like he doesn't have enough time in the day either!

(Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia.)

What's Around You....Inspiration in a around the neighborhood

Inspiration is right in front of you sometimes - yesterday morning, I opened my front door to let me cat smell the spring air and I was greeted with a flood of pink, yellow and blue. I ran for the camera.

Yes, I live in the suburbs but if you're paying attention, you can catch a moment of spectacular beauty that's only supposed to happen elsewhere.

So, you say, does that mean I have to get up obnoxiously early to see anything beautiful in my neck of the woods?

No, I say. You can look in other places that have regular hours.

Like the Albright-Knox Art Museum near my home.



The Albright Knox is full of Modern and Contemporary Art - walking through take you on a tour of Contemporary art - full of color, inspiration while thought provoking. I go a couple times a year to take in the art and challenge myself to look at it in a new way.

What local places inspire you?

Free Bead Winners!

ACK! I put a publish time on my blog post last night before I added the winners of the free beads! If you've looked at the blog before 6 AM EST, it didn't have the winners added.

They were added at 5:48 am EST (ok, so don't razz me about being up so early! LOL!)

Winners - send me you snail mail address and I'll send out the beads to you tomorrow. You can get to my email address by clicking on my profile.

Congratulations!!

What Came Before....Kiffa and free bead winners

Ancient beads are amazing to me especially when you think of how they're made. I find much inspiration in them.

Kiffa beads are rare powder glass beads according to Wikipedia.



Kiffa beads inspire me to try more complicated design in my work.

Is there something that encourages you to do something more? Do something more complicated?

Before you comment, here are the winners from Monday and Tuesday:

Monday: Sharon

Tuesday: Tish

Congratulations!!!!

And today's giveaway beads are eye beads in keeping with the ancient theme of inspiration:

Inspiration Media: Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard

YouTube is the people's channel and it is full of junk and beauty. The Teen spends alot of time on YouTube but I go over occasionally. Last week, I went over and found this gem.



Are music videos inspiring to you? What's your favorite? Leave a comment and I'll put your name in a hat for a drawing for FREE BEADS! I'll announce Monday's and today's bead drawing winner tomorrow.

Here are the free giveaway beads for today:

A Week of Inspiration: Where I find it and get it and oh yeah, FREE BEADS!!

Officially it's spring. If you saw the countdown clock on the Today Show on Friday, you know it's here. Or maybe you don't need Matt and Meredith to tell you it's spring - you just know it.

Me, come March 1st, I decide it's spring. I know, I know, it may not look like spring outside come March 1st but I have to switch. Enough with the winter already, I have to have spring. So I do. I decided long ago March 1st was spring and so be it.

I'm looking around at the remnants of winter in my studio and things need freshening up. It's time for some inspiration. So this week, I'm going to show you where I find inspiration and give away some free beads. But let's start with a definition of inspiration.

Dictionary.com defines Inspiration as "stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity."

Bland definition don't you think? A definition for inspiration should be more flowery, more descriptive. Let me take a whack at how I'd describe it....

Inspiration is the feeling that comes over you when you visit the Grand Canyon where the colors are so vibrant they seem to pulse. You feel your heart pound and the air seems thick with ideas and jump from you drawing pencils to your sketchbook.

Whaddaya think? I'm not sure I've made alot of sense but that's how inspiration feels to me. Now, dear readers, I want you to try your hand at describing how you feel when you're inspired. It doesn't have to make sense, just write what you feel.

I'll take all the comment-ers names and put them in a hat for a drawing for free beads. Yes FREE BEADS! I'll post today's winner on Wednesday. Here are today's giveaway beads



Write your definition of inspiration and win free beads - can't get much better than that!

I look forward to reading your definition of inspiration!

(Photo credit: Me!)