where did my inspiration come from?

I've been asked by several people where my inspiration came from for my latest piece, "Hello There".

It was only recently that I learned to open my eyes and see things that are around me as inspirations.  Just to take a moment and look a little deeper.  To ask myself what I like about this or that and perhaps incorporate it in my art.  This piece is probably one of the first times I truly used that concept. 

All I knew is I wanted to do something whimsical.  What came to mind was the picture I had taken

 of my sister, Linda, several years ago.   Everytime I take her picture she makes a face of some sort, usually crossing her eyes.  I loved her crossed eyes and expression she had on her face, it was as if something just landed on the tip of her nose. Which prompted me to photoshop a butterfly on her nose.   I sent her this card, which made her smile.    

I find my  most challenging part of drawing/painting a face is doing the hair.  To make this part a little less painful I decided to put a hat on her head.  I found this photo. I liked the hat but I just couldn't draw it to get it to look right.This was about the time the my whole painting started going south.  Click here to see the details.  And the chanting began..."there's no mistakes in art".  I decided to go out on a limb a try to draw a hat that would be a little more youthful. That reminded me of a nice summer day.

When it came to the background I remembered this top I had.  The main reason I was attracted to this top was the softness of the flowers and the rich colors.  I love the purple and yellow colors together with the little pink flowers floating around.

Now that I am learning to see things differently I'm already looking for my next inspirations

Let me know what inspires you to create?  I really am interested in hearing your stories.