Since I was a kid, I’ve loved collecting images – tearing out pages from magazines or books.   Sometimes it’s simply a pattern or color that inspire me. Sometimes it’s another artists’ work from a magazine.  I also really love home design, so I’ve got binders full of tear sheets for inspiration. This summer, I wanted an area to put up an oversized pinboard in my studio to display the stack of art images I had collected.  I decided the inside of the garage door would be a great place, since it wouldn’t take up valuable work space, and it would help to beautify what was an eyesore.  I got a couple of sheets of foam insulation from Home Depot and cut them to fit snugly inside of the garage door.  Then, I just pinned up my image collection:  magazine pics, postcards, drawings, prints, photos and other sources of inspiration.   I’m constantly adding to the pinboard, which is about 70 square feet of awesomeness.   Here’s how it turned out.

Ok, now on to my real image collection obsession:  Pinterest!   Not familiar?  Let me explain.  No, there is no time….Let me sum up…  Pinterest is an online “pinboard” combined with a social media site that allows you to “pin” images from the internet onto virtual pinboards.  You can also ‘follow’ any other pinner, and get ideas from others whose style you like.

In layman’s terms, it is visual crack, and I spend way too much time on there.  But as a visual artist, I justify it as “research.”  It is a fantastic way to find inspiring images (and too many DIY projects to count) without having to search all over Google.  What I love is that you can customize who you want to follow, and even which boards, so that you get the types of images that you want to see. Recipes and Workout ideas? No, thank you.  Color, Art and Gardening?  Bring it on!

Here’s a peek at my personal pinboard.  Click the image below to go to my Pinterest page.

By the way, there is a fine line between inspired and distracted.   I am happy to dance on both sides of that line.   -Misty

Here are some places you can find me online:  Pinterest :  www.pinterest.com/freshpaints   &   Facebook (fan page):  www.facebook.com/m.oliverfoster.art   &   art portfolio:  www.moliverfoster.com    &   murals/classes:  www.freshpaints.com.