Thoughts on Inspiration

The golden fields that are prevalent at this time of year (my favorite) are taking shape nicely on this 36x72 inch diptych.  As I work in layers, I'm given much time to think about how and why I paint, which really boils down to inspiration.  There are days I view other artists' work and am terribly disappointed in my own, and other days that viewing the work inspires me...thankfully the second is most common.  It's not even that I'm inspired to paint how or what they do, but it just motivates me to get into my studio and begin working.  I was a little stuck in how I wanted to approach this field, I knew it was wheat and golden but I didn't want it to be yellow.  Then, of all things, I began to look at my watercolour sketches and had an 'A-ha!' moment in the colour palette and knew immediately that I wanted to add layers of red iron oxide, orange and unbleached titanium (cream) along with yellow and white and I'm thrilled with the results.  So, in this case it was my own work that inspired the resolution on this piece but it really could have also come from my interest in using complimentary colours.  I don't know why I didn't think of it in the first place.  In any case, I'm happy (at the moment) and am excited to see where this leads.