Catching up! Early Spring Mood Board

I have been busy - work is not letting up and I have a few more weeks of craziness there.  The energy sucking continues.  Sigh.  However, the creative itch continues - so I try to satisfy or rather sooth the itch with some creative exercises that just take the edge off the irritation that I can't put my full focus on my art.  In the Winter I took a bulletin board that hangs on a wall at one end of my galley kitchen and created  a Winter mood board.  Actually I did it for Autumn as well.  Let's see did I post about these? Oh, here is the autumnal post:  http://astheartflies.blogspot.com/2011/11/art-every-day-challengechallenging.html.  The Winter one is...let's see, its, right...well I tried to do a link but for some reason google is messing with me and won't let me call up that post.  Sigh.

Well, March 21st has come and gone.  Primavera is here.  In California we are experiencing a very wet and cold spring with moments of beautiful sunny, tepid weather.  Daffodils are up and brightening up the landscapes and gardens.  Flowering quince and cherry are just dropping petals like snow on the green grasses.  Its beautiful!  Inspired, my mood board is now reflecting the shift from a stark winter to a soft and pastel spring.

Many of the images I use are from many magazines especially my favorites - Somerset Life, Marie Claire Idees, and Country Living British Edition.  Others come from scrapes and pieces of purchased patterned papers.  This is a board to inspire me and not something I would sell or use for sale.  So, I don't think I have infringed on other artists territory by posting my mood board.  If I have please let me know and many apologies. 

Anyway, it is fun going through my stash of papers and images and deciding which one's work well together in terms of color, texture and patterns.  In a way, its a great way to practice my composition skills for future reference.  I highly recommend making mood boards to get past a creative block and to rejuvenate the creative juices.  Give it a try.  You don't need a big space. I took an old cork board 24 x 32 that covered in an oatmeal colored linen.  I use sewing pins and tack all the images down.  I can move things around easily since nothing is permanent. So easy to put up and to remove for the next season or if the mood strikes me to do something else.

This exercise as gotten me thinking about Leah Piken Kolidas' ( Creative Every Day) http://creativeeveryday.com  April's theme around 'Language'.  As I have a crazier three weeks to come at work, I am going to challenge myself to use the theme and work on something that I can share but mainly to get me moving beyond the cross roads where action and stagnation meet.  So, I will keep posted on how I get along as best I can!  Cheers.