Inspiration is not something that comes from a single source. It is all around you if you just look. I get inspired by so many things, from nature, architecture, music, historical objects, patterns and textiles, instruments. I think it's important to have creative rituals to get you in the proper mindset, however. Every morning I write in a gratitude journal, this helps me set my intention for the day and to focus on what I am grateful for, it also helps me to really notice my surroundings and tune in to what is beautiful, the minutia of life.
Another thing I do to live an inspired life is to practice mindfulness and simply notice my surroundings. It comes down to an intentional slowing down of our fast paced life. Looking up, looking down, looking at run-down buildings and noticing the textures of peeling paint, looking at cracks in the sidewalk, at little flowers struggling to grow in between those cracks. There is so much beauty to notice.
I also like to collect inspirational imagery, and I keep that in a folder on my desktop. Sometimes I have no idea how it will relate to jewelry, I just respond to the image because I like something it holds, whether that is color combinations, forms, shapes, shadows, light, whatever moves me.
I have a bulletin board above my jeweler's bench that I put a lot of inspirational imagery on. Sometimes I make Moodboards on photoshop, sometimes I physically cut out images and put them on the board, collage style. There's no right or wrong way to do it. I switch them out about every month just to keep it fresh, but I find it really helpful to look up and see things that inspire me, as I design and create jewelry.
Another thing I do is keep a studio journal, where I draw, and write things as they come to me. Sometimes it's note style, sometimes it's a combination of drawings and notes, just to get the juices flowing.
I believe it's important to live a fully creative life, not just sit down and say, "Ok I'm going to be creative now" but to live it in everything you do. I love to embroider, play music, make art in every way possible, from arranging objects a certain way, to seeing sculpture in natural forms, to seeing my entire life as one huge art form. That way, the jewelry I create has more substance and meaning, they are more than just pretty pieces of jewelry, but they are born from an entirely creative existence.
What do you do every day to live an inspired life?