Ever since I was little, all I ever wanted to do was paint… The moment I have a paintbrush, pencil, pastel in my hand, the world stops and everything else disappears. The experience of entering the creative process is magical, sacred, endless. The things that move me, and inspire my work are the elements of nature, the sky, water, light and shadow, reflective surfaces, passages, tunnels, open spaces, pathways, canopies of trees, figures, bodies moving, birds, animals… I could go on and on. Beauty, magnificence, power, the sublime, can all be discovered in so many things and so many places, if we take the time to look.
For myself, I have discovered that inspiration is not something that occurs or pushes me to get into my studio to work, but rather something that occurs during the process of painting. It is the work itself that brings forth or allows inspiration to emerge. When I paint, I am striving to capture something, even a little bit of that spiritual, untouchable, unspoken essence that is available to all of us. If my work can move the viewer to feel and be inspired by what they see, then I have done my job.
Check out the soothing coastal landscapes on my website: www.heatherrippert.com
My studio is located at the Ybor Artist Colony: https://www.facebook.com/YborArtColony
