Drawing Inspiration From The Past

  I'm inspired by so many things.  In fact, I could probably take inspiration from almost ANYTHING, especially if my mind is open enough to being inspired at that moment.
  In the last several years, though, my main inspirations have been colour (the brighter the better!), the Japanese pop, lolita, and visual kei movements & cute "kawaii" toys and things, and the 80's & 90's (my childhood).
  I'd like to talk about going back to the past, and drawing inspiration from that.
  I have a youtube playlist full of 80's commercials that, when I close my eyes, I can imagine I'm back there, my hometown looking the way it did then, myself having no cares but which neighbourhood park I wanted to play in, the (amazing) music that played on the radio, and the smells of the perfumes, shampoos, candy, and scratch 'n' sniff stickers we had back then.
  I was actually thinking in the shower last night, how I missed the smell of Revlon's Flex shampoo, and LA Looks shampoo.  That got me to thinking of Malibu perfume, and Exclamnation, and, my personal favourite that I'd give anything to smell again (and hey, Amazon has it!!!), Cover Girl's Navy perfume!  Ooh, and Maybelline's Kissin' Coolers  - particularily watermelon flavour!  I can almost smell it now!
  I thought I'd share my two "blast from the past" pinboards (and my truly outrageous Jem pinboard!), so you can see what I loved so much about the 80's and (early) 90's!
 
 
 

Don't Throw That Out!

  I'm not a hippie.  I haven't completely gone green, though I do my part just like everyone else.

  I DO, however, love free craft supplies, and if it means less stuff tossed in a landfill as well, then that can't be bad, right? 

  I try to upcycle now every time I craft, whether it's scrap fabric, puzzle pieces, broken jewelry bits, whatever I can find!  It's like I've decided to challenge myself to turn trash into treasure, and since I kind of pride myself in seeing beauty in almost everything, it makes me feel good to accomplish just that!

  Here's a look at a few things I've created using "junk":

This Halloween bunting was made using those cardboard beer coasters you get at bars.  (I was given a couple of packages of them after a local establishment closed years ago.)

Old crayons melted in silicone molds makes new, fun-shaped crayons!

Paint and seal tiles to make a coaster set!

CD jewelry.

How about turning a record into a candy dish?

Scrap fabric becomes yo-yos to put on jewelry, hair accessories, anywhere!

  The list really goes on and on.  I have boxes of "junk" that I have plans for, including old Christmas light bulbs, pages from vintage encyclopedias, pieces of broken mirror, etc.  Luckily, Pinterest is chock-full of upcycled craft ideas, so if I'm not feeling too inspired on my own, I can just hop on over there and get some cool ideas.

  I challenge you to think before you toss something out.  Maybe that pile of scrap paper can be turned into even prettier home-made paper  (Paper-making is messy, but really fun!  You could even add some glitter to the pulp!).  Maybe you could turn that soda bottle into a planter (I just saw the cutest soda-bottle planters on Pinterest yesterday), or maybe you can gather a few pieces of "junk", and challenge your kids to create something fun! 

  The possibilities are endless!

I Draw, Too

   ...In fact, drawing has always been my first love.  Ever since I could hold a crayon, I've been filling up notebooks, and pieces of paper with doodles and designs.
  For the longest time, I had planned on studying fashion design in Paris, and being a famous fashion designer.  Of course, once I got nearer college-age, I decided that the fashion world was pretentious, and I could never justify charging $1000 for a tee shirt.  (Had I known, at the time, that the internet was going to be a big thing, and places like etsy would be available for me to maybe be successful in my own private label, maybe I would have gone to a more local college's design program, but I digress.)
  To be honest, sewing and draping isn't my thing.  I love to design, to put it on paper, to DRAW.  No formal training, no real technique.  I'm not really all that good at all, if you're looking for rules to be followed (light and shading...huh?)
  Know what I've noticed, though?  Once I realized that I didn't follow any rules, that I had no technique, I kinda stopped churning out drawings every single day, like I used to.  I'm not as creative as I once was, even with my handmade craft, for the same reason.  I just need to DO and not THINK!  (Something I must tell myself in many aspects of my life.)  The internet allows me to share my creativity with others, and allows me to enjoy the amazing things others create...but it's also overloaded me, and given me sort of an inferiority complex, and I plan to erradicate that asap!
  A great place to discover and share visual artwork of any kind, is deviantArt.  Here's the link to my account: http://roxyguitarz.deviantart.com/  (Yes, my username is roxyguitarz...as in Roxy from the Misfits, from Jem and the Holograms).  I started there in 2007, and went strong, submitting all the time for a few years, and then my submissions eventually became few and far between.  I submitted drawings, jewelry, crafts, and even my couple of attempts at digital art.  I've met some great artists, great PEOPLE, on dA, and I encourage you to explore the site and enjoy the art, all skill levels, all genres, all types of people, just doing what they love.
  If you, dear reader, dabble in arts and/or crafts, I encourage you to share your work on deviantArt - it's so easy!  (I warn you, though, it's addictive!)

Here are a few galleries I recommend, of some deviants I've met along the way!
myroski
amjara
foozma73
zombietastic
blue-willow
myntkat
jerzee-girl

Please explore the site, and find some favourite artists of your own.  If you'd just like to "collect" your favourite artworks but don't want to post any work of your own, you can become a member, and simply add the work you love to your "favourites", and even organize it by genre, artist, or however you'd like!

It would be silly of me to make a post about drawings without a single image in it.  So, though there's much more on my deviantArt page, here's a sampling of some of my drawings through the years...

(Okay, so technically this last one is a painting...but I drew it out before painting it, so it counts!)

A Look Back

  Back when I used to have a ton of time to devote to my craft (read: unemployed and single), I spent entire days in my tiny art room, and entire evenings perfecting the photos of my work with Photoshop.  Some of these photos have made their way to my personal deviantArt account, and many were posted on my now-deleted old blog. 
  I find looking back at the many different things I'd created in the past helps motivate me to pull more magic out of my hat.  Let's take a peek at some of my favourite creative memories...

These little gems made of recycled CDs are hanging up in my own jewelry box!

Repurposing puzzle pieces lets me make jewelry, and satisfy my painting bug!

Embroidery floss-covered beaded necklace close-up:

And lastly, my Tetris-inspired necklace of 2011

Do you find that looking back on your past accomplishments inspires to you move forward onto new ones?