On Thanksgiving Day, I went for a hike at Papago Park in Phoenix. It was a beautiful morning to get out and hike and I took a book I was reading and as I was approaching the spot I normally read I noticed there were a few people there so I decided to walk a little further up the trail and found a really cool ledge overlooking the valley. As I was walking up there a woman by the name of Rita was walking her dog Tanner up the same spot. We started talking about our Thanksgiving plans and I took a picture of her and her dog, we followed each other’s art (she played music) on Instagram. I read, went and grabbed some coffee on the way home and had breakfast, listened to some of Rita’s music and decided the morning and some of her soulful music inspired me to paint in the morning. The word inspiration showed up so I decided to start with that.

I began using a Liquitex Modeling Paste to add some texture to the paint. I painted the whole canvas white with the almost plaster like texture while leaving the white of “inspiration” open. I used Golden “Titanium White” that is more translucent paint that I used to paint over inspiration while still letting the word shine through. As I added more colors like deeper burnt orange/brown, blues and greens much of the colors were inspired by my morning hike to Papago and the upcoming Christmas season. Inspiration remained shining through until enough of the piece was covered. As I was painting, I realized inspiration is already within and I eventually covered over inspiration because it didn’t need to be shown. This is a reminder that inspiration can come from all around us, a conversation, a song you hear, a beautiful morning, a hike and what all of those items represent is a piece of inspiration that lies within us. Inspiration lies within each of us and so I felt that was an appropriate name for the piece. Enjoy “Inspiration Lies Within.”

In joy,