Use it or else!

What inspires you to try something new, to create something, to learn something? I suspect there are as many reasons as there are people. I recently posted the photo below and asked what three photos and a painting had in common. The answer is that I used all of them in a new digital art collage creation. It all started when I challenged myself to use a photo I had taken but never used. The main reason I take photos is to use in my digital collage art, but if I do not use some of the photos, why keep them?  Because I might need that particular photo one day and if I delete it, I cannot replace it. Sound familiar? I cannot get rid of…, because I might need it one day. Those dishes, that outfit that is now 2 sizes too small, toys your children no longer play with, but you hold on to because of fond memories, or bits and pieces left over from a project that could come in handy later on, or… The things we hold on to and do not need! I am as guilty as anybody else. I am not going to tell you how many photos I have on my hard drive and have not used. I confess. I am a photo hoarder. Which brings me back to my challenge to use a photo I have never used before. I picked a rhododendron photo, because I have quite a few and rarely use any of them. It was time to justify their existence on my hard drive. This time what inspired me to create a piece of art was the need to stop hoarding and start using. Want to see what I created? It is called “You See Eye See” and will go in the Altered Reality Gallery and Shop Your World store on August 2nd. Members will be able to preview it and other new art on my Members page August 1st.