MsKitty is busy staring down ideas….do you suppose it works?

I think it’s high time I started explaining my “idea catching”.   This all began a couple of weeks ago.  I was reading some comments to a fellow art blogger’s posting.  This particular artist works in watercolors, has recently won awards in watercolor magazines and has lots more experience than me.  A reader posed the question: where do you get your ideas?  What a terrific question!  My brain cells did a hard right into brain pin-ball mode.  It’s sort of like Topsy-Turvey-Land.

The question started bumping and rolling around my brain and hasn’t stopped.  Where do I get ideas?  And where might I find really CREATIVE ideas?  I need to CATCH these ideas.

The answer given included one way to cultivate ideas: focus on technique.  This helps on two levels.  Learning technique gives you the ability to communicate your ideas.  And, technique itself can be a source.  Barbara Nechis’ book “Watercolor from the Heart” is all about technique as a source of inspiration. 

I thought I’d post two ways I catch ideas.  The sepia drawing is a way of exploring an idea.  I get to see what the paint does, think about space division, and composition problems in a non-threatening way.   I’m not up on stage performing!  The other is a page of brain storm drawings.

I would like to continue discussing idea catching over the next few postings.  In the meantime, how do you catch ideas?