I’ve been taking several online art classes this year from Alisa Burke, an artist famous for her sketchbooks and her art, from realistic to abstract, graffiti to patterns. One of her strongest messages is to find your own muse, places that excite you and give you inspiration to create your own art.
One of my favorite places to go for inspiration is our local botanical gardens.
It’s chock full of gorgeous paths, landscaping and planned gardens based on themes, such as wildflowers, roses, herbs, and spring bulbs.
They have such a wonderful variety of spring bulbs in bloom right now.
I saw many spring flowers I’m familiar with but not in these mini versions.
I’ve also never seen a tree with such curls like this Curly Willow.
In addition to all the beautiful flowers, the landscaping is fabulous too. This alpine path reminds me of vegetation I saw when I lived in mountain terrain, lots of evergreens, conifers, sedums and succulents.
There are lots of places to just sit and reflect on life.
I’m working on a project for Color Theory class where we have to put together slide show of photos we’ve taken showing complementary colors, which means colors on the opposite sides of the color wheel.
I already have a big supply of photos to choose from, but I wanted to take new photos to add to the mix.
It was an exhilarating and relaxing afternoon, to feel the warm sunshine, smell the blossoms, and just be outside amongst all this natural beauty.
I definitely have to make more field trips like this. Where do you go to relax and find inspiration?
Thanks for stopping by!
Terri's Notebook 
Gorgeous! The amount of things to look at in a botanical garden is almost overwhelming, isn’t it?
Thanks Amy! Good point, going to the botanical gardens can be overwhelming, kinda like spending a day at the museum. So much to look at that you could easily get overwhelmed. But being outside really helped me relax and feel refreshed.
What a beautiful place to visit and get in touch with your muse. The blossoms are stunning. I find inspiration in many different places and activities – some of them quite mundane but that’s when my mind mulls things over and gets ideas. It looks like you had great weather too for your visit.
Hello Terri,
Wonderful inspiration, Botanical gardens are great places to visit. Good luck with your art classes, You are learning so much.
Happy days.
Bev.xoxo
Hi Terri,
I was just visiting the Botanic Garden yesterday,where I’m teaching. I enjoyed your pictures very much. Aren’t gardens wonderful? I think the white flowers with little green dots are called Leucojium (sp) but I’m already second-guessing myself! Darling, though, aren’t they?
Melissa
What a wonderful and relaxing place to find! Definitely inspirational!
Your botanical gardens are beautiful. That should give you lots of inspiration. Hmmm….I’d have to think about who/where my muse is. Elsa helps a lot in that department. 😉