This morning, after a few days of fighting the flu, I drove into Manchester to have lunch with the woman I love at her work. I am feeling better, but my mind, after a few days of fever, was feeling flat. “I need,” I thought to myself, “some inspiration”

Just at that moment, I drive past the Southern Vermont Arts Center. Even though I have donated some things to them in the past and have a free pass, I had never actually been through the galleries, so I turned around and drove up the long road past the huge Sculpture Garden fields to the galleries themselves.

The Arts Center is actually a complex of galleries and museum. But the only one open in the cold winter season was the Yester House Galleries, which is housed in (you guessed it) and old Vermont clapboard house.

They were having an exhibition of member artist’s work, which, I thought, would give me a lot of variety of things to perhaps inspire me. Also, because I want to make some changes in my own studio to make it a better place to display paintings, I am starting to look at how different galleries I visit hang and display things.

As it turned out, I did get a good idea for my little studio. Some of the galleries were painted in a colonial red sort of color which really made the pictures pop. I had already been thinking that I would paint one wall of my office a shade close to that one, but now I am thinking perhaps I will carry the color to the same wall in my studio, and tie them together.

But I had come to see art work primarily, and so I wandered through the galleries, and a few things popped out at me.

The picture above is called Distant Slopes, a giclee print by Joan Poarch. I loved the mix of photographic and watercolor feel of this one, and the red-orange trees in the foreground were, for me striking, hinting at spring to come, even in the midst of winter.

This rather large oil by Arthur Jones is called Abstracted. It was clever, fun, bright and makes you think. It hangs in the front hallway as you enter Yester House and for me, it dominated the landscape.

My work tends to be more abstract, so it might surprise followers of mine that this one captured my eye, but for me, it was the colors. Called Champlain Docks by Mark Boedges, the blues are mesmerizing. I kept turning back to it again and again and it just drew me in.

This looks big here in the blog, but it was actually a quite small painting. Done in oil by Frederic Faviano, it’s one of three (and it titled One of Three). It just has a great “POP!” factor going for it. IT hung in a hallway with dozens of other paintings, all quite good, but my eye came back again and again to this one.

This last one is a photograph that captured my heart because of my own love of what Poet Tess Kinkaid refers to in some of her photographs as “Abandoned America.” It’s called Rotting Books by Ian Creitz.

Was I inspired? Yes, I was.

Do I know what will come of that inspiration? No, I don’t. I have no idea if the influences will show in poetry or photographs or art, but that’s the magic of inspiration, one person’s idea transforms into another person’s and something new is created.

When you need inspiration. Take the time to stop and get some. I spent less than an hour in the galleries, and while my body is still exhausted from being sick, my soul feels alive again, joyful and dancing with ideas.

Take care, Journey Wisely,

Tom