THE SERENDIPITY OF INSPIRATION

Wetlands Daybreak I ©2008 Julia R. Berkley. Mostly cotton fabric with bead, yarn and ribbon embellishment on canvas board (18" x 24") Collection of UMass Memorial Medical Center

"Where do you get your ideas?" is a common question artists hear. Since ideas generally come from all over the place, this can be hard to answer! But occasionally it's fun to look at a few pieces where I actually remember the source of inspiration and can share that with you.

Once I was inspired by a humble piece of brown upholstery fabric.

As my spouse will surely tell you, I don't have a history of being attracted to brown, though that has changed quite a bit due to his consciousness-raising.

This was just a fuyzzyish chenille in a dark brown coffee color, but the color and texture brought my mind right to cattails and their ilk. 

With the chenille in hand, I went looking through my fabric collection for colors that would work as background. I tried out several pieces, and finally found a wonderfully rich, water-colorish fabric that reminded me of an intense sunrise.  After much experimentation and imagining, these two starting materials led to the two Wetlands Daybreak collages you see here. (Click on them to see more detail). A long journey from a scrap of brown to these fanciful pieces!


Wetlands Daybreak II. ©2008 Julia R. Berkley Mostly cotton fabric with bead, yarn and ribbon embellishment on canvas board (18" x 24") Collection of UMass Memorial Medical Center