In your mind’s eye

The definition is: in your imagination or memory. But I think of it more as a special place where all of the magical things get stored up for later. Like a treasure trove that you can visit whenever you need to. I guess it’s your imagination, but even better…

Because we are the sum of all of our experiences, and that’s where the sweet spot of our soul lies. In life, and in art.

Quick story. As a gift to all of my bridesmaids, I bought gorgeous frames where I intended a photo would eventually go. In creating the actual gift, a friend helped me write poems about what I felt was unique and special about each of them that added to who I am as a person. I hand wrote them all beautifully. And to this day (30+ years later) each of them has this displayed in their homes, and not with a photo, but with my sentiment displayed in them.

So what I’m saying is that we are a sum of our experiences, and the friends and people who make our lives special, and that is all stored in our mind’s eye and that’s what make us, and our imprint on the world, unique.

And I believe it’s the same with creating art. We learn from other artists, that we admire, and are influenced by the world around us. And each of these things get added to our mind’s eye in the magical place where ideas are stored. My art/life will have hints of what I see and love from the world around me.

Example, one of my recent paintings was inspired by a piece that I say at a gallery when I was dropping off some artwork. This particular painting caught my eye. I’m not ever sure if it was the colors, the composition, the technique, or just the moment, but the experience of seeing it got tucked away and later reappeared influencing my own unique piece of art.

So that’s the fun part, being inspired by everything around us, being inspired by every experience you can find. Tucking it away in your mind’s eye and dipping back in there when you need inspiration. And just like that, your own unique style begins to emerge as it’s own wonderful expression of the sum of you. And it only gets better with practice.

So what are you going to pull from your mind’s eye to inspire you today?

And this is one of my weekly oil painting demos that I do live on Instagram. This week I painted my sweet cat Oliver…enjoy!