I have been wandering around looking for new subjects and took a group of drawing students to the local state park. The waterfall looks a little weak, but I am very interested in coming to this park to see what I can see.
I like the idea of water and rock as very basic elements of life and earth and I think I can produce some interesting images. Minneopa State Park near Mankato, Minnesota, could be a pilgrimage site for me, like Sibley Park in Mankato.
The water could become a very Turner-like image for me. We'll see.....
Another source of inspiration for painters is films. The inspiration is less direct but just as thorough. For the past several years now that so many great films are available for the first time on DVD, I have been watching the films of Fellini, Antonioni and Godard. Each film maker came into his own in the 1950s and each thought of film as an art form rather than meerly entertainment. When you see one of their masterpieces, you can't help but reflect on the visual strength of their work. How they play with the language of films and how each is extremely interested in the purely visual. In the book, I, Fellini, Federico talks about his films as paintings. The complexity of each man's work can only inspire how one looks at films but also all visual experiences.
I think another benefit of looking outside of your art form for inspiration is that it causes you to reflect more objectively on the visual experience you are creating.
