When I create images like these, I search for similar images online and use them for inspiration, whether it is how to do the zebra's stripes or the colors and styles that seem to work together. I wonder if looking at how other artists do things is a way that I distrust my own creativity or if it is seeking out inspiration for how I want them to look.
I am still reading "On Becoming An Artist" by Ellen Langer, and the other day I read about how "we look at the work of other's that has received high praise in an effort to discern the right way to do it ourselves. The problem with this approach is that we usually end up in the sidelines watching, rather than engaging in the activity and taking control of it. We are too readily guided by the experience and opinions of others, no matter whether they apply to us or our situation."
She goes on to say, "We are taught to think inside the box. Then we are taught to think outside the box. What I want us to ask is, Who put the box there?"
I think that in looking to other artists for inspiration, I am somewhat giving in to a lack of confidence in what I will come up with. I don't believe that I will come up with a greater solution on my own, and maybe there is a little laziness and impatience taking place too. But I understand to not get caught up in that.
Still, I have had lots of fun creating these pictures, and when I am done might do some butterflies on smaller canvases, and will do these without looking at other's butterflies to inform my decisions. I think I will have time before they are due.
