While I know that a lot of artists have to be in complete silence to create, this is not so for me. Silence is actually a pretty scary noise to me. So while I'm creating I'll either have netflix on in the background to watch when I'm getting frustrated with a piece, or I'll turn on some of my favorite tunes. It also turns out that the type of music I listen to while I'm creating effects the piece I'm working on. If I'm listening to something bright and poppy, my colors are usually brighter and my lines are sharper. If I'm listening to smoother music I use more mellow colors and my lines are more wavy and smooth. It's honestly interesting for me to create with music and see what happens.

  Some of my favorite things to listen to while creating are:
-The Lumineers (big fan of Classy Girls, Sumbarines, Slow it Down, Stubborn Love, and Flapper Girl)
-Bastille (lately my favorites have been Daniel in the Den, Laura Palmer, and Get Home)
-Hillsong United (really can't pick any favorites out of that, I love all their albums)
-Moulin Rouge (yes I know, a musical. But oh my god I can't get over Elephant Love Medley)
-The Dimes (big fan of Love and Oceans)
-The Fratellis (I love their Costello Music album, my favorite song? Creepin Up the Backstairs)
-Of Monsters and Men (depending on my mood I can just listen to their album My Head Is An Animal over and over and over)
-Arctic Monkeys (I love listening to Dancing Shoes)

  So my taste in art music is very varied. Depending on my mood I need different sounds and temperaments for a piece. How about you guys? What's your favorite music to listen to when creating?

  It is my personal belief that every creative person needs to be constantly learning. Regardless of the fact that I'm entering an education field, and even regardless of the fact that I'm a college student, I constantly want to learn. I have to learn different mediums and ways to do things. In fact one of the things that excites me about my major is that I get to take every introductory art class that my college offers.

One of my college professors even mentioned the other day how art is one of those professions where you are constantly learning. I don't think there will ever be a point in my art where i will ever stop learning. As an artists, you're constantly taking in information. Be it inspiration, new techniques, or whatever, you never stop taking in this inspiration to make your art the best it can possibly be.

  Regardless of if you are in college or 84 years old, it's important to take information in. To grow in the things you love. I know personally I love following blogs that show tons of DIYs and tutorials. These crafty women aren't some high up Martha Stewart entity, which makes me more willing to try the things they post.

  I also pin an insane amount of tutorials and projects on my pinterest. Probably more then I could ever get done in this lifetime, but I assure you, I'm going to try! If you guys want to check out my pinterest to get some inspiration or tutorials check it out here: http://www.pinterest.com/crimsonscarf/

  I pull inspiration from all over the place. Wether it be from my town, my family, websites I like, or from all over pinterest (to be honest I have a bit of a pinterest addiction so yes, I gain a lot of inspiration from here).  Depending on the project I'm working on I look at different things. If I'm doing an illustration I find different artists and sneak around their sites till I find something I like and then attempt to use what they create to help furnish my pieces. Then there are just some pictures that make me want to create. They usually aren't even pieces of art. One of my favorite photos I found on pinterest that just makes me want to get a cup of tea and create is this one:

Found on Pinterest, credit acollectionoflove on tumblr

  I found this image on pinterest (and traced it back to give proper credit). For some reason when I look at this beautiful image it just makes me want to create until I pass out from exhaustion.

  I remember exactly where I was on 9/11. I was only in kindergarden at the time and my mother and grandmother worked in the private school I went to. I remember all of the teachers running around and twittering about. I asked my mother what was going on at one point and she just said that some very bad men did a very bad thing. Being only 5 or 6 at the time I thought that someone had robbed a bank or something trivial like that.

  During lunch that day they marched everyone in the school to the auditorium. K-12 all sitting there watching the footage of the world trade centers collapsing. I remember the hush that fell about the room as everyone focused in. The older kids who knew what was going on looked shocked. The little kids didn't entirely grasp it, but we knew something was horribly wrong.

  They say you never forget where you were on that day, and it shocks me that now there are kids who knew nothing of it. Children who weren't even born yet. My son's class will have no idea what this is when they are asked in history class. It will be as cold and foreign to them as the revolutionary war or the great depression is to me. Something that shook our nation to it's very core, in a few decades, will be nothing more then a history lesson. Something they learn about but then brush off after exams.

  Do you remember where you were on this day?