Feeling a little lost for inspiration?

There are lots of places and things all around you that could be a great trigger:

Visit the Never a Dull Moment – Hamilton Stories exhibition at Waikato Museum and discover what stories there are about your neighbourhood or the area your traffic signal box is located. www.waikatomuseum.co.nz

Pop down to your local park or café – What can you see?  What are the sounds and smells like?

Find out more about your suburb’s history and culture by clicking here

There are lots of ways to feed your creativity when you’re looking for ideas for your Adopt-a-Box design. Here’s a few that could work for you.

Find inspiration in real life

The real world is great inspiration. It never gets boring - there’s always so much variety and so much going on. If you’re into people, city scenes, or landscapes, you’ll get your best ideas by going out looking at those things. Go sit and watch people on the street. Check out a fun event, a great view or a beautiful building. Take a camera, a sketch pad or sound recorder so you can take your snippets of inspiration home to get creative!

Jot down your dreams or emotions

Dreams and emotions have inspired artists throughout history, helped create entire artistic movements like Symbolism and Expressionism and inspired the use of colour in some amazing ways. Use your emotions to guide you and find ways to convey that to something visual.  Or, since we often forget what we dream, sleep with a pen and pad of paper next to the bed. If you wake up from a particularly inspiring dream, write it down before you forget it.

Talk about it

Just hanging out with local artists or your friends and family and talking shop about painting your Adopt a Box is a great way to bounce some ideas back and forth. Not everyone thinks that same so its pretty likely that they’ll have a different idea to you.  Many artists are very supportive of others in their community and are more than happy to talk. Go to gallery openings and talk with other artists. Hang out in their studio and see what they have been working on. There are also online art communities where you can chat or post topics in forums.

Music, movies and books

Music, books and movies can be just as inspiring as real life. From pure fiction, biography or thriller to classical music, heavy metal or hip hop - Whatever your interest, there is music, a movie or a book out there to feed your creativity. Check out the local bookstore, movie rental place, music store or local gig for some ideas. www.whatsonhamilton.co.nz

Do something new

Trying to do something new and different is another good way to get inspired. Go to an event you’d never have thought of before, try a new activity or create your design in a style or about a subject you’ve never tried before. Changing things up a little can take you in a whole new direction. www.whatsonhamilton.co.nz

Carry a sketchbook or a camera

You just never know when inspiration may strike. You could discover something by accident one day or pass something on the street. An image may just pop into your head. If you don’t have a way to capture that moment, you might lose it. Try to carry some paper to sketch on so you can sit down and draw what inspires you at that moment. Or take a camera to snap a shot with.