Treehugger

What a weird week coming back from break - is it really already Thursday?

If you must know - no, I didn't make it to midnight on New Year's Eve. Josh and I had Red Lobster, drank too much Cabernet, and sleepily watched 20 minutes of a random movie, both passing out around 10:30 PM. I have no shame for this.

The next day I found myself on a spur of the moment 12-hour design binge, all spent creating the new look for KV's Confessions in 2013! It's very me - something I've been attempting to get perfect for some time now - and I couldn't be happier. I'm still updating graphics here and there, including new buttons, but those will be available shortly! What do you think?

I so wanted to link up with the other Art to Inspiration ladies yesterday, but I missed it, yet again. I figured "better late than never" - which I realize is a terrible way to start off a new year (I don't think anyone else is more late-prone than me!) - but alas, the topic pulled at my heart strings and I wanted to participate...

"Yield" by Roxy Paine

This image inspired me right away. I don't know about you, but I'm kind of obsessed with trees. 

Growing up in Connecticut, they were everywhere. Miles of trunks and branches full of leafy green foliage that continuously connected through highways, rivers, and homes. We used to climb them as kids, walk through the woods for adventure, and watch chipmunks scurry up their trunks. I used to call them broccoli fields by the way they looked from above, and I thought they were beautiful. 

When I moved to Utah I had to get used to more mountains, and a lot less trees. Sure, there are still trees around, but to me it's nothing compared to the gorgeous East Coast woods. I missed them.

Due to this shortage of trees, it has made me pay more attention to them now a days. I notice their leaves - the shapes and colors of an artist's dream, their branches - drawing intricate lines and patterns as they grow, their roots - hidden and spread out deep beneath us like an iceberg.

We casually watch them grow and change as each season passes, not realizing they are actually alive - breathing through their swaying branches, staging the singing songbird, and standing firm above the rest of us watching and listening with the perspective of a wise old man. 

I like to think of them as friends, as weird as that may seem. I stare at them, study their branches, their bark, their leaves - I could hang out in a forest just looking up for hours. They provide constant inspiration to me, more so than any other part of nature. I've found myself wanting to take pictures of them whenever I feel the need to capture an image...

What piece of nature inspires you the most?