Creativity

Looking to be inspired? Inspiration is all around us, I think having kids helps inspire me because they see things in such an original way, they think of things I may have never thought of before, and they say what they think. All great qualities!
I have a Wacom tablet that I use for my Cafepress stores (Creativethoughttshirts.com and Freshgreentees.com), and I just love it. I bought the Intuos 3, 6x8, and it's wonderful!!! I need about a month alone with it so I can learn to use it well! Okay, 6 months, but the point is, there aren't enough hours in a day. I just love Corel Painter (came with the Wacom tablet). It's wonderful, and the official magazine is fabulous...has great tutorials (as does the website). Unfortunately, I don't think you can subscribe to the magazine in the U.S., but I pick one up from my local Borders bookstore. It has lots of helpful tips and tricks, and a lot of good stuff that you may have forgotten from art school. (Or never learned). The latest issue shows how to turn photos into sketches, very cool.
Some of my other favorite inspirational places include:

Chapter19.com/inspiration

The ocean (haven't been there too often, but found it very inspirational).
Used book stores...love to look at the art books, both graphic design and fine art books.
The Artist Network

Deviant art - very cool, check it out!

KT Tunstall site...very cool website, I wish I knew how to make a website like this!

Webby awards...cool websites!
Artocracy

This one I can't explain, it takes a while to load, but it's worth it. Try it!

Alright, I'm getting really tired...I can see I'm going to have to continue this list tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, because inspirational sites are abundant, like my bookmarks...
Goodnight!

Politics and creativity

So, I really thought my Barack Obama Obumpa fist pump t-shirt would be a big seller at my t-shirt store. I mean, I thought the design was clever, and the play on Obama's name seemed clever, but perhaps my son is right. Perhaps it is a lame pun. What do you think?
It's so hard for me to combine creativity with politics. I mean sure, there's the name of the candidate, and the symbols, (American flag, peace sign, etc.), but how far can you really stray from the status quo? Then I see some incredibly unique designs, and I wish I had created them! My 2 most unique designs for Obama are can be found here.. and here.
But even I admit I need to make something more unique and exciting. And when trying to come up with a creative thought, it just seems different with a political theme. I get caught up in the red, white and blue, and the ordinary, expected things. I wish I could erase every political design I've ever seen, I think they've influenced me over the years. It's kind of like really bad tv commercials, you seem to remember them, so I guess they've done their job.
And yet, my favorite way to get inspired to come up with new, creative ideas for my t-shirts, is to go to the used book store, and spend hours there looking through the art books. While I usually spend some money there, the point is to find things that inspire me, not to copy other artists' ideas. It's great because there is so much original art in the world, it makes me think that I can come up with something original too. If I put blinders on. But then, so much of the outside world is great for inspiration, I guess it would just be nice to have a filter. I do like my yoga t-shirts though, especially this one.
Please check out my t-shirt and gift store, any feedback is greatly appreciated.
And if you have any ideas on how you get inspired, or what helps you be creative, I'd love to hear them!