What Inspires You?: A Lost Feather

Hi amazing bloggers! Today, I have the lovely Sarah from A Lost Feather! If you didn't happen to know, Sarah created my beautiful Etsy banner and business cards for my recently launched Etsy shop. She is such a creative soul and I am so happy she is here to tell us about what inspires her.
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Hello! I'm Sarah from A Lost Feather- a blog about art, travel and adventures. Lo asked me to keep you all company while she's away on an amazing vacation.. I'm so happy to be here!

Lo asked me to write about what inspires me. This is a topic I'm constantly asking myself since I'm an artist and I need to stay inspired. An uninspired artist is like a race car driver without a drivers license! Artist or not, we all need a bit of inspiration in our lives. Here are the places I search for mine..

1. The Great Outdoors. My boyfriend and I took this photo of ourselves in Yosemite National Park. Unfortunately, I can't go there all the time since it's on the other end of the country, but when I do get the chance to travel I try to take in as much beautiful imagery as possible. In places like Yosemite the inspiration is almost palpable.

Majestic scenes like this often inspire me to paint. In this particular case my painting (below) came before the photo..

2. The World Around Me. Having a phone with a camera is a great tool for gathering inspiration. Two of these photos were snapped while I was just out walking my dog, Boo. I'm constantly on the lookout for little pieces of beauty that could potentially go unnoticed. I love how the light is falling onto little Boo and my sister's soft expression.

3. Maps. I could stare at maps all day. I plan imaginary road trips all the time and I love making art that involves a map. When you look at a map everything seems so small and easy to get to. I like thinking of the world that way.. so much to see.. it would be easier if things were nearby. On a little map, they are!

4. Love: Matthew + Sarah= Love ... =Necklace (hehe)

My relationships with Matthew, my family and my friends are definitely a wonderful source of inspiration. Their constant support and love is forever pushing me forward in my artistic endeavors.

Of course there's also the internet.. amazing blogs, pinterest, flickr. Ah. I so love this online community. Where do you search for inspiration?



blog. shop. drawings.

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Thank you so much to Sarah for such a beautifully written post on what inspires her. I hope that you will visit her amazing blog and shop. I love that as she spoke of "the great outdoors" inspiration took over and the painting came even before the photo, what a beautiful piece of art. Speaking of inspiration...I bought a print from Sarah even before I began working with her on my Etsy stuff. I loved this print and it spoke to me as inspiration for my Printed Peaks collections:

I also thought I would share with you two items from her shop that I would love to own one day:

Thank you so much for stopping in and visiting with Sarah! 

-Lo

It's All About the Details: An Outfit Post

 scarf-thrifted

sunglasses-UO

tank-thrifted

shorts-UO

shoes-thrifted/etsy

Last night I made this delicious "spaghetti" and meat sauce. I made some changes because instead of using zucchini for the "spaghetti" I used green squash. I also didn't use sausage I just used ground turkey. This is a super healthy and gluten free way to enjoy "pasta"! Honestly, you may be thinking that squash cannot resemble pasta but it really felt like I was eating pasta...which was wonderful since I haven't had pasta in so long! But then the sweet boy and I wrecked our healthy eating by going to a late night movie. We were just so hot we had to get out of the house. We had pizza, sour patch kids, raisinettes, and a large coke! We were seriously partying! We saw Super 8 and I had my fingers close enough to my face just in case and could feel my heart beating so hard and fast...just a little terrifying for me! Check out the work Sarah did for me on my etsy banner and business cards over here! And Lyndall at Royal Milk Tea totally answered my questions about summer reading only for her it's winter reading, here! Love it!

 Thanks for visiting!

Lo

Blueberry & Banana Ice Cream/Guest Post

I found this delightful recipe for banana ice cream and really wanted to try it. 

So I kind of just decided to add what I thought would be tasty and healthy.

Here is my rendition:

I whipped up this for my sweet boy and me late last night because he had to work super late!

I can't wait to try more recipes from the Comfy Belly Blog, so many good and healthy ideas!

Maybe if it is hot, hot, hot in your neck of the woods you will try this in your own way. I think I may just add almond butter next time. While you're on a roll with me why not check out my very first guest post on A Lost Feather! Sarah was so sweet as to allow me to promote my shop and I offer up a nice little COUPON CODE too! Just because everyone has been excellent with such kind words and I am just so happy to have finally opened my very own etsy shop! :)

Thanks for visiting with me!

-Lo

Note: I rekindled my love for cut-out art...as you can tell from my ice cream cut out. This love was found again via A Piece of Lisa's post, here. Inspiring.