bare inspiration...

this morning the sun was so bright and so happy, i grabbed my camera and went outside to take some pictures.  as i looked around though, i didn't feel very inspired.  everything was so bare and brown and drab.   so instead, i went back inside to make myself a cup of tea to go with that leftover brownie.  as i waited for the water to boil, i looked out the window and had some thinking time.  i'm an artist, i thought.  shouldn't i be able to find inspiration even when there seemingly isn't any?  i thought, maybe i just need to look at things a bit differently.  there must be something of beauty out there on such a sunshiny day.  

so, i stepped out onto the back deck, where the sun was making nice shadows over the old worn wood.

i noticed a few stubborn flowers on a summer plant.  reaching towards the sun it seemed.

i decided to walk out into the yard a bit.  our backyard is like this.  a nice clear area with some grass and then a really leafy area (because i can my husband can only rake so much) with some cool big rocks and then the forest.  when we first moved into this house we had about 6 inches of backyard and then the jungle forest.  but my husband has single-handedly (meaning, i didn't help at all) cleared a much larger yard area over the last 7 years.  so every year, our yard gets a little bigger, but we'll always have some forest back there.  anyway, as i was saying, i ventured past the grassy area.  normally, i would never do this because of large forest bugs and spiders and ticks and who knows what else.  but, it's been chilly, so i was feeling safe from small creatures.  and i had my boots on.

i found some rocks with some really green moss.  i love moss, don't you?  it always reminds me of fairies.  and i do believe in fairies.  that inspired me to keep going.  down a leafy hill, whoops-a-daisy, grabbing hold of some branches on the way to keep myself upright.  all the way to the water. 

 which doesn't look like much really, a small, rocky stream, maybe 2 feet deep in some spots.  but it runs through all the backyards, under some streets...  a few miles, i think.

without the leaves, the sun shined down in a beautiful, warming kind of way.  i basked for a little while.  feeling the sun on my face.  listening to the water trickle over the rocks.  i stayed there until my fingers got cold.

and then i headed back up the mossy, leafy hill.  back to my warm little studio to do some work.  but something was different.  i was feeling refreshed from my little trek into the unknown.  i was feeling calmer.  and yes.  i was feeling inspired.  sometimes, you just gotta look a little harder.