Finding my Muse

For homework in Sketchbook Delight, we were supposed to go out and find inspiration. 

So I brought my husband with me to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. 

I found some “pattern” inspiration before I even walked into the building!

I didn’t take my camera or my phone into the building with me-just a sketch pad and a pencil.  We really enjoyed walking around and looking at all of the exhibits.  I found that I really loved paintings of houses. 

But my real pattern inspiration came from some embroidered doilies that were originally in the Czech and Slovak museum before it was flooded in 2008.  I sketched this at the museum, just to get the pattern onto paper and make some notes. 

When I was going back over my notes this morning, I realized that I didn’t write out anything about the colors, so I jotted down what I remembered.  Then I did a sketch and added some watercolors. 

And while my painting and sketching don’t really do justice to the gorgeous doilies made by the Czech women, I did get a LOT of the design down on paper.  I am planning to keep working on the patterns and the colors. I am not completely comfortable with sketching, so this is totally new for me.  I am trying to do something everyday-and Alisa’s videos are awesome.  New lesson Monday! 

I found some more “pattern” inspiration in the brick at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church just up the street. 

Wow-I love how they laid the brick-beautiful!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! 

Happy Engineer’s Week-it’s going to be a busy one!