Behind the Scenes: from inspiration to the finished work of art: Q & A Part 1

Get a behind the scenes look at how I go from inspiration to a finished work of art.  Feel free to ask questions, I will include them in the next segment! Enjoy!

Where does your inspiration come from?
My inspiration comes from all around me, my environment.  I walk through the gardens on campus and will see a new plant or texture that I want to incorporate into my work.  I keep a portfolio of ideas that I rip out of magazines as a reference in my art library.  The past year or so, I begin to pray about my art, all aspects of it.  My prayers are answered at different times, sometimes I will go to bed and in the morning when I am not quiet awake I will have three or four answers to my prayer, and other times it might be months before I get an answer.  Praying about my work has been the best thing I could have ever done, my ideas are running over!

You have an idea... now what?
Sometimes the "now what" is the biggest hurdle to take inspiration to creation.  I typically start with a sketch or two.  I prefer pen and my drawings are usually very rough and gesture like.  I also do alot of writing, such as how I plan to approach the sculpture, coil, slab, newspaper form, solid to hollow out, into my sketchbook.  I also jot down what texture tools I will use, if I am including text on the piece I will write that as well. 

Where do you work best?
Every artist approaches their work with their own personal flair.  I have seen some that work best if it is quite and no one is around, some blair music and others paint to the sound of the snow on an old t.v. set.  I prefer to work to movies.  I work best to movies such as Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings since they run over 2 hours long although I will watch anything in my collection.  Now I can only work to movies I have seen or heard a million times, new movies I get very distracted and end up watching instead of working! 

Do you have a favorite tool? 
Right now I am creating alot of organic texture, so my favorite tools have been my needle tool, exacto knife, a double sided tool that has two sizes of rounded scoops (not sure what it is called) and an assortment of paint brushes.  Although, I recently purchased a set of bowl scrapers from Target that come in bright colors at a great price!  I might have to write a fav. products review on them!

Well that is all for todays Q & A! If you have any questions, please ask and I will include them in Part 2 of Behind the Scenes: from Inspiration to the Finished Work of Art.