Behind The Scenes
Erin Daniels
Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.
― Henry Ward Beecher
I’ll admit it, these emails are challenging for me to write. I am much more at home putting pencil and brush to paper than words to a keyboard. As I considered what to write about this week I was thinking back to common questions I’ve gotten over my years as an artist. As queries go, second only to “how long does it take you to do that?”(this was especially painful to consider when I was exhibiting my extraordinarily time consuming hand embroidery :), has been “where do you get your Inspiration?”.
My standard answer is usually a mumbled something along the lines of, “I don’t really know..umm I think it’s just something I was born with..maybe God?”. And while all of these are true, albeit uninspired answers, if I dig a little deeper I can definitely find more interesting and concrete sources of Inspiration. So I thought I would share a few - in no particular order - that I hope you will enjoy!
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” ~William Morris
The philosophy of William Morris is one that guides my personal decorating aesthetic. I have tried to create a home and garden as a peaceful and beautiful place for our family to gather and also a place where I am surrounded by Inspiration for my work. Definitely not a minimalist, I mix patterns with abandon and use bold color on the walls as a backdrop for my collections of floral ceramics and artwork. Seasonal mixed bouquets from my garden are the Inspiration for all of my current paintings.
I recently had one of my botanical watercolors digitally printed onto fabric to create these pillows for my wicker garden furniture. All of the flowers in the painting are from my garden.
Since childhood I’ve been enamored with the charming illustrations of Beatrix Potter. Best known for her children's books, such as Peter Rabbit, Beatrix was also an accomplished natural scientist and conservationist. I am currently reading Linda Lear’s in depth biographyand have been introduced to Beatrix Potter’s skillful botanical illustrations. From a very young age Beatrix was encouraged in the art of observation and recording the natural world around her. Her skill as as an illustrator is seen in the images below.
William Kilburn (1745–1818) was an Irish botanical illustrator, print designer, and calico printer who was best known for his contribution to William Curtis’ Flora Londinensis. Upon seeing Kilburn’s textile designs for the first time I was immediately fascinated with his use of floral motifs intricately combined with seaweed, shells, and ribbons. With his mastery of seamless pattern created from delicate watercolor botanicals Kilburn created designs that are timeless and breathtaking 200 years on.
I hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes look at what Inspires me as an artist… now I must get back to the “drawing table”!