Inspiration is Everywhere

The inspiration for my most recent art project got started 

when Don and I stopped by in Las Vegas so I could play 

in a PB tournament with a gal I met the year before.

Dee & myself with our husbands... Dee's husband 

standing next to me, Don next to Dee!!!

Dee Eaddie and I won the 50+ Gold in the Nevada

 Senior games.   We were actually in the 75+ category, 

but the medals for that group never arrived so 

they gave us ones that said 50+…

Then we headed to the Huntsman World Senior Games in 

St George Utah where we played our real age group...  75+.

 

 

We didn’t medal, but it was an honor to play with 

and watch some of the best pickleball players from 

all over the world in all age groups. 

Now, that inspiration for my most recent project came from

 that Oct 8, 2014 trip to UT, when Don and I stopped 

at Red Rock Canyon Nat’l Conservation Area in NV.  

One of my favorite “visitor centers” ever.  

It was (and is) an amazing artistic creation!!!

The theme for the visitor center presented 

stunning separate information centers for  

Fire, Water, Earth and Air.   

This is "Air" up close and personal.

Later as we wandered around the visitor center, 

I saw this unique and unusual piece of artwork

 and took several photos 

which ended up in my “projects to do”. folder in 2014!!! 

I loved the random arrangement, some photos

 occupying 1 square and others 2 3, 4, or whatever…

 

A drive thru the area offered it's own

special features

and additional inspiration.

So 10 days ago the mental process began:  

How will I hang the piece without

 making 55 individual 4 x 4” squares to create the asymmetrical

 piece I wanted.  I didn’t want to have to hang them as 

individual pieces, so I decided to make the entire 40 x 28 inch

 project as one unit.   That size was determined by the size

 of black matte board commercially available.  I 

didn’t want to see a pieced background, but I wanted it 

to look like they were individual pieces placed 

next to each other.

Then I selected some photos I’d taken over the years,

 from my “favorite photos” folder and got to

 work on my computer.

 The computer layout features allowed me to arrange, play

 with and move various subject matters (photos) around,

so I could achieve a pleasing movement of 

color throughout the piece, while taking into 

consideration the “visual weight” of the subject matter 

of individual photographs.

The end result hanging in the guest bedroom, 

 which was already a colorful space.  

When the wall bed is pulled down for our 

guests, a hidden surprise appears...