Inspirational Art Quotes

I love quotes, so here are 52 of my favourite inspirational quotes to celebrate a New Year... Enjoy!

Have a Vision, a Dream. Believe in that Vision. Live that Vision with every fibre of your being. ~ Jonathan Lockwood Huie

To create one's world in any of the arts takes courage. ~ Georgia O'Keeffe

Everybody has a creative potential and from the moment you can express this creative potential, you can start changing the world. ~ Paulo Coelho

True art is characterised by an irresistible urge in the creative artist. ~ Albert Einstein

I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do. ~ Georgia O'Keeffe

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. ~ E.E. Cummings

Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing. ~ Georgia O'Keeffe

Only through art can we emerge from ourselves and know what another person sees. ~ Marcel Proust

Art is not a thing, it is a way. ~ Elbert Hubbard

Art is when you hear a knocking from your soul — and you answer. ~ Terri Guillemets

How we spend our days is how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour and with that one, is what we are doing. ~ Annie Dillard

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. ~ Henry Ward Beecher

To be an artist is to believe in life. ~ Henry Moore

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. ~ Anaïs Nin

You cannot find happiness by chasing after it. Happiness comes from doing what you love to do, and from being who you truly are. ~ Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. ~ Oscar Wilde

The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. ~ Leo Buscaglia

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. ~ Emerson

Do not compromise yourself. You are all you have got. ~ Janis Joplin

‎If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That’s why it’s your path. ~ Joseph Campbell

Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are. ~ Kurt Cobain

The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones. ~ John Maynard Keynes

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. ~ G.B. Shaw

The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.  ~ W. M. Lewis.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. ~ Leonardo da Vinci

No artist tolerates reality. ~ Nietzsche

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth… not going all the way, and not starting. ~ Buddha

Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect. ~ Alan Cohen

Patience is also a form of action. ~ Auguste Rodin

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

We're so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it is all about. ~ Joseph Campbell

The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable. ~ Robert Henri

Be faithful to that which exists within yourself. ~ André Gide

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. ~ Steve Jobs

Success in any endeavour depends on the degree to which it is an expression of your true self. ~ Ralph Marston

Your best work is your expression of yourself. Now, you may not be the greatest at it, but when you do it, you're the only expert. ~ Frank Gehry

At the end of your brush is the tip of your soul. ~ Andrew Hamilton

The goal of art was the vital expression of self. ~ Alfred Stieglitz

We express our art in everything we say, everything we feel, and everything we do. The creation is ongoing, it is endless, it is happening in every moment. ~ Don Miguel Ruiz

The beginning is the most important part of the work. ~ Plato

The chief enemy of creativity is good sense. ~ Pablo Picasso

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~ Thornton Wilder

To have the sense of creative activity is the great happiness and the great proof of being alive. ~ Matthew Arnold

The things that make me different are the things that make me. ~ A. A. Milne

Creativity is intelligence having fun. ~ Albert Einstein

Everything in creation has its appointed painter or poet and remains in bondage like the princess in the fairy tale 'til its appropriate liberator comes to set it free. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. ~ Albert Einstein

Expression is the essence of thought. ~ Tony Caldero

Everything you can imagine is real. ~ Pablo Picasso

A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown. ~ Denis Waitley

Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder. ~ E.B. White

When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be. ~ Patanjali

Before the idea... The Creative Process from The Beginning

I love new projects! From blank canvas to completed painting, the creative process is always a thrill...

I was musing about this as I walked through the woods today. I was wondering where creativity comes from... What's the process from the unknown to the known?

I'm not afraid of a blank canvas. To me it represents endless possibilities... A clean slate... And I realized that this is where the creative process actually begins. Before the sketch, before the idea, before the vision in the mind's eye... Creation begins with an intention.

Before I have any idea of what I'm going to create, I first have an intention to create it. Whether it's a new idea for a painting, something I'm writing, a business idea... Or anything in life for that matter! It all begins with an intention...

“Our intention creates our reality.”

— Wayne Dyer

Once the intention is set, then the seed of an idea will plant in my mind's eye. For me one of the best ways to harvest these idea seeds is to go out walking...

Sudden inspiration comes when we least expect it. So set an intention and then keep on walking...

My Secret Forest

My Secret Forest

I've been busily painting away... Preparing for a show, creating new designs, and moving to a new studio this month. It's easy to fall into overwhelm.

The more I have to DO, the more I need to BE.
My inspiration comes from nature and the magical world of my imagination, so luckily I have nature on my doorstep...

The forest is my muse.
 

Forest Painting (detail), work in progress

New Designs!

Midsummer Forest Cell Phone Cases

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The more creative I am...

Inspiration cannot be forced. It’s unpredictable.

It seemingly comes out of nowhere, striking like a bolt of energy.

So I’ve been thinking…

What is creativity and where does it come from?

I love the thrill of a new creative idea.

Every idea is a seed of potential. But the seed has to be planted for even the possibility of a new creation to grow.

Creativity is the process of bringing a new idea to life.

So to be creative is not merely having a unique and novel idea. Creativity requires both inspiration and action.

Inspiration meets you when you're walking on your path.

“Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working. ”

— Pablo Picasso

The more creative I am, the more creative I am...

Meeting inspiration.

The only way to be creative is to create.

Being creative requires inspiration, but you can’t always wait to be inspired. It doesn’t always come to you... Sometimes you have to go to it. You just have to put pen to paper or paint brush to canvas and create.

'When inspiration doesn't come, I go halfway to meet it.’ ~ Sigmund Freud

When I’m too much in my head I need to move my body, so I go for a walk. Walking clears my mind.

I let go of the puzzle I’m trying too hard to solve... I just walk it out.

I like to wander as I wonder... And somehow just by walking, the pieces all come together. 

‘My work is inspired by two things: the external world and the internal world. A good day is when they meet on canvas.’ ~ Bonnie Mandoe

Sometimes I am inspired to paint, and other times I paint to be inspired. I let my desire to create lead the way, and then I meet inspiration around every corner...

What do you do to meet inspiration?