STIMULATE YOUR CREATIVITY - STEAL FROM THE MASTERS AND OTHER CREATIVE PEOPLE!

"Bad artists copy. Good artists steal" - Pablo Picasso

Okay, I'm not talking about downloading another artist's work and saying it's yours - don't be silly. What I am saying is look at other people's art and let it inspire you. Do you like the way a particular artist used color? Experiment with that palette in your work. Do you like the way the artist used negative space? Try to emulate their design sense. Let the view of other artists open your eyes to new possibilities in your own art.

Go visit some of the world's greatest museums online and get inspired by what the other artists are doing with their art. I stop by several sites on a regular basis just to have a look see and let the visuals sink into my unconscious to percolate. (Links below.) Sometimes I will analyze what I see in a very logical thinking process and sometimes I just absorb the information intuitively. This practice helps me to evolve my own art and keep it fresh and exciting.

I am particularly fond of MOMA (The Museum of Modern Art) because I lean towards very contemporary and even avant guard works in my personal tastes. Plus I love their gift shop! MOMA's site also has a great e-card section too!

Don't just stop at traditional art for your inspiration, there is art and design all around you if you look for it. I get inspiration from a lot of surprising sources, the abstract art I did above was inspired by watching the stand-up comedy special "Norman Rockwell is Bleeding" by Christopher Titus, one of my favorite comics!

I fell in love with the set colors of lavenders and yellows and warm browns on the wrecked wall part of the set. The way the set designers used lighting to invoke the colors in that area had me sketching color combinations as I watched the show! I was really itching to use those colors in an abstract and "TITUS" was the end result of that inspiration! (What kind of cracks me up is how the title of the special itself uses the name of one of my favorite artists as Titus' pun on his dysfunctional family. Stop by his website for a good laugh if you need one!)

"TITUS" is available as archival prints and giclees on canvas on my website, PopArtDiva.com in various sizes.

MOMA - The Museum of Modern Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Guggenheim

The Louvre