Where Do Ideas Come From?

First Gisha, watercolor and gouache



My students have been creating index card 5 minute art journals to help them generate thinking and personal ideas in painting.  In reality, a lot of ideas from a lot of art comes from both internal and external sources.  I started creating feminine forms by accident one day when I first saw a geisha in an abstract painting and was intrigued by the painting which resulted.  I then saw the female form in every abstract that I looked at.  After I attended Drama and Desire Japanese Paintings from the Floating World at the Kimbell Art Museum, my female forms took over my work.  Here is where art influences art, the external source further influencing my art making.

Recently I saw a work by Dan Krall  that so reminded me of Paul Klee’s work. "Paul Klee paintings have been classified within several different related movements including expressionism, cubism, and surrealism.”   Perhaps it is because both artists are influenced by a similar source, the child artist.   Dan Krall is a production artist for the movies as well as a freelance illustrator.  Visit his blog at  where he writes about his influences for art making.  Where do your ideas come from?