“I don’t know” is my finally answer to all of these questions. I just know that inspiration for me is anything I want to remember, anything that won’t let go of me. Sometimes it’s a still, quiet voice waiting for me to be still and quiet and other times, it’s as loud as a fire cracker.
I like a quote from Brancusi, the sculpture, who said “Things are not difficult to make; what is difficult is putting ourselves in the state of mind to make them.”
Here are my inspiration for "Comes A Wishin" Time" from the Pages and Paint Workshop
My backstory: While I was gardening, I noticed my six year old daughter was pulling the heads off of our yellow marigolds that I had planted underneath our tomato plants. She was placing the petals in the fountain, singing, and dancing on top of the petals that she had scattered on the path. This reminded me of a poem that I had written in 2009, which I wrote on my two page spread.
Also on the two page spread, you will see two square black and white photographs. I had read that if you soak your prints in water, you can scratch on the surface. So I let my daughter scratch on the surface of a picture of her blowing her “wishing flower”, or dandelion seeds. I also did some colored pencil tests and pastels and pressed some of the marigolds, yarrow, and black-eyed Susans from our garden in the glasine envelope the prompt originally came in.
This prompt from the workshop was written on a piece paper. It had 4 words “Yellow”, “Happy”, “Try a sketch”, and “Shady Tree”.
So I did try a sketch of an idea that had been brewing inside me and put words to my thoughts and memories and came up with “Comes A Wishin’ Time” poem and illustration from a memorable happy, yellow day with my daughter.
There, whew! I am trying to keep pace with nature, and be patient with myself in my creative process.A few years in the making, but I am pleased with the process.
The Thread Is Red 
Lovely – yellow does seem to be the colour of positive thinking! (It features quite prominently in a book I’ve just read and am about to review ‘The Wooden Bowl’ by Alice Baudat). And that quote from Brancusi is fantastic (but then I am biased, being Romanian like him).