Bohemian Inspiration

Here are the definitions of some of my favorite words:

Bohemian: a person, as an artist or writer, who lives and acts free of regard for conventional rules and practices, living a wandering or vagabond life, as a gypsy.

Wanderlust: a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about.

Inspire: to fill with animating, quickening, or exalting influence.

Gypsy: a person with a traditionally ascribed freedom or inclination to move from place to place.

I think people described me as bohemian before I even knew what it really meant. I have always done my own thing, been the super weird and artsy type, loved to travel and be outdoors, and I have some very wild curly hair. It just kind of fits.

As far as art goes, I have never been able to get away from bright and vibrant colors. I took this painting class in college once with a Dutch professor who was super serious. Like we were not allowed to listen to music on our iPods during class. I had a friend who had a class down the hall and on occasion she would come and sit with me while I painted and we would chatter away. One day we were working on a painting that was supposed to come from a "darker place." My friend and I were chatting as usual, and my professor had had enough. She came over, took one look at the rainbow explosion on my canvas and said, "Jennifer, you are not doing this correctly. You cannot sit here and just happily paint." And she promptly banned my friend from visiting me. What in the world? Why can't I happily paint? I heard complaints from multiple professors throughout my college experience that I used "too much color." My work was "too busy." There was "too much going on." Sorry, didn't a very famous someone once say, "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful?"

Today I embrace color. I embrace all types of media. I fling paint. I doodle. I love sunshine and flowers and pretty things. And I love anything and everything bohemian. I have multiple Pinterest boards showing my boho love, and am also a HUGE fan of this Tumblr blog dedicated to the bohemian lifestyle.

    

What better time to let your boho side shine than summertime? Something about being outside and feeling the sun on your skin and smelling the flowers just makes you feel so free.

I follow artist Katie Daisy pretty closely. Everything about her inspires me. Her work is amazing. She is so young yet one of those artists who has already made a name for herself by doing what she loves and was born to do. I love how she has wandered the country and lived so many places: growing up on a farm in Illinois to going to college in Minneapolis, then moving to the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina, then to Portland and now to the small town of Bend, Oregon. She posted this picture on her Facebook page today:



It was taken by someone who met her up on the roof that very day. The caption said "She was doing this while everyone else was doing that." I'm sorry, but she is just so cool. I have never been brave enough to just up and move. I went to college here in Columbus, Ohio (Ohio State baby!!) and was planning on moving to Chicago once I graduated. Then chickened out. I do love it here, but maybe someday when I don't have to worry about finding a job because making art will be my job, I will wander. In the meantime, I travel whenever I can.

Talking about these things is making me want to find a sunny spot to paint in!

    

Have a beautiful (boho!) Thursday! :)