Backing it up?

The illustration above, I did a while back, in 1999 or 2000. I have a thing for little things that are colorful. Looking at this silly little piece of art makes me feel happy. Maybe I have just been taking myself too seriously, maybe this was the kind of art I was meant to create. This was done during my most productive art stretch, and artwise, my happiest. It's funny to look at this picture and remember that I was approaching a divorce, and my home life was not at all happy. Where did this come from?

It's a Small World in Disneyland is hugely inspiring for me. I love the color and the over all happiness of the attraction. Sadly, we only saw it once while we were down there. I thought that was about as much as I could ask of Darrin. As it turns out, he enjoyed it, I should have dragged him through a couple more times and got some pictures.

My most reliable inspiration is children's stuff, colorful, happy, lots of detail. Maybe what I need to do is step back a bit, and try to recapture that. If I have time this weekend, I think it would be a good idea if I pulled out my old sketchbooks and spent a little time reviewing what I once enjoyed so much.