inspiration on my doorstep

I have been thinking about inspiration, what is it, where does it come from, how do I find it? Well, somehow I never seem to be short of inspiration and ideas, always coming up with little series of works and projects. On reflection I think this comes from my excitement being in the natural world, its visually stimulating and I instintctively want to explore how images from what I see. 

To prove this to myself I nipped outside at home, literally 30 feet from this computer as I type and took some photos of any texture that caught my attention. The above image is looking down on to the surface of a large blu/grey slate slab. Zooming in is a great way to find ideas for abstract paintings, the surface was hewn in the 19th century and has human activity laid bare on its surface. Beautiful, subtle, almost hyroglyphic, possibly space or sea bed but total inspiration. I instantly see how I can use this in my practice.

Here is another one, instant minimalist inspiration. There is a landscape in this. Soft, chalky, gentle whites that bring images of Robert Ryman's white paintings to mind.

Close up of ash tree bark, making me think of a birds eye view of deseret, blooms on a drought riden lake or clusters of human occupation. I want to play around with dotty patterns and lines on parchment paper or make an etching print.

One more, but this is really unlimited. This is an old door that has been attacked by woodworm in the past. The holes are reminding me of star constellations and I want to join the dots to see what is revealed. Could be satelite imagery of animals moving around or a weather system of rain moving in.

These could potentially form the basis of a little project... maybe called 30 feet in any direction! oh no, not another project! So I think I proved my point, inspiration is everywhere, mine nearly always comes from nature or the outside environment and humans intervention within that environment. Below is one example of how I might translate these types of reference into a painting.

Rock, 20 x 20 cms, acrylic on wooden panel, 2022