Being Inspired

Sometimes we wonder where to find inspiration, where to find beauty, where to find our muse in life. The daily tasks, unexpected emergencies, the routine daily grind seem to take their toll and leave us just a bit tired and jaded. I found my breath of inspiration early this morning, drinking my hot coffee watching the steam rise and and dance about in delightful patterns in the crisp autumn air.

 

Tired from emergencies, family trips and non stop events plus with a touch of jet lag as well  I made myself a beautifully strong cup of Peruvian coffee. Expresso style. And sat down.   I’ve been bright eyed and wide awake each morning  at about 2am since returning home and my internal clock has not reset itself quite yet.  But today I was lucky enough to sleep in until 3:30 am. Wow.

Getting nice and comfy in my chair, I glanced at the coffee,  second cup,  and became entranced with the rising steam patterns. For a moment, I thought I’d just ‘memorise’ the scene for later use in paintings,  perhaps some abstracts…..   The more I looked the more excited and inspired I became.

(This could merely be a sign of a very tired mind,  I prefer to believe that the images are interesting!)

I decided this moment in time wouldn’t come by again.  I jumped up, grabbed the camera and shot off several photos.  I’m really glad I did, as I do not have that great of a memory recall to remember all these swirling dancing tendrils of steam.

 

I left these photographs quite large resolution so that they can be clicked on and viewed closer, if you wish to.

I’m quite intrigued by the soft fuzzy background, out of focus, foggy.  This really describes me and my jet lag at the moment! Its a great parallel.  And then the cup itself is sharper but being  plain white is hinting at the ethereal… (in my mind.)

The actual steam swirls are so delicate and wispy, they are nearly intangible, yet their movement was completely mesmerising.

 

I found myself saddened a bit, when the heat of the coffee had cooled and the dance of steam no longer entertained me.

It reminded me again,  beauty is everywhere.  I can find inspiration in so many of the daily activities and objects – if  I just open myself up to them.

Will I  Look?   Will I open my eyes and breathe the inspiration in?

 

Looking at the photos, I’m quite pleased. None are vivid high detail, they’re quite blurred and ‘foggy’.  This out of focus effect won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but we all have our own muse.

I truly love these grainy backgrounds – gorgeous with the softly merging colours and tones.

These Inspiring images  will make excellent reference sources for  soft pastel  semi abstract paintings, which I look forward to working on in the near future.