Have you ever noticed this before?

Most of us go through life experiencing things and looking at them from the same perspective.

For example, when you go to the grocery do you ever think to get down and look carefully at the very bottom shelf to see all the foods that are displayed there?

There are so many that most people miss.

Or do you look at all the different areas, both high, low, and the end caps to see if there is something there that you’ve never seen before? Like you’re on a scavenger hunt.

My husband goes to the grocery and travels the same aisles and picks out the same foods and every time.

He’s in and out of there lickety split.

When I go, which I don’t very often, I take hours because I want to discover things. I go really slowly and look up and down, take things off the shelf, read the ingredients, and then think about if I want to try it or not.

Each time I discover something new that I would not have noticed if I did the same thing every time.

Last week we took a trip to Washington DC for the sole purpose of getting ideas and inspiration, both for my blog and for the Art with Adele Academy. I’m always looking for new ideas to bring to my members in the Academy.

We went to all the major museums…The Hirschhorn, The National Gallery of Art, The Natural History Museum, and the American History Museum. There were others but these were the biggest ones.

Typically, when people go to a museum they tend to stand in front of the art for a while, maybe read the tag next to the artwork, and move on.

This time I went with the intention of noticing as many different things as I could.

For instance, most gallery and museum walls are painted white, or maybe grey. But on this trip I noticed many different wall colors…there were yellow, blue, and dark grey just to name a few.

I also paid close attention to the sides of the artwork. Many times the work is on canvas and the side is typically 1-1/2” thick. But I saw several pieces that were narrow and only 7/8” thick.

Some were mounted on wood, like a piece by Piet Mondrian. Some were framed in simple frames and others were framed in ornate gold frames. And some weren’t framed at all.

And then, the most impressive and monumental installation which I feel so fortunate to have seen in person was by Mark Bradford at the Hirschhorn Museum. He’s an American artist from Los Angeles and is known for his use of found materials.

He used ten or more layers of paper – white paper, colored paper newsprint, billboards – that he glues on top of each other. He also layers long cords horizontally between the layers. Then he begins tearing them off to show the layers underneath.

This installation was eight large panels, each 12 feet high and 45-50 feet long. Of course, I had to see what the sides looked like.

The next time you wander around a museum or gallery space please stop and notice the wall colors, the framing, and the sides of the artwork because you never know what you may find that will really inspire you. There may be something you may not have noticed before.

And it goes without saying that on your next run to the grocery store, I know you’ll be bending down to notice what goodies are lined up on the bottom shelf just waiting for you to take home.

* Click HERE to learn about the Art with Adele Academy.

* Click HERE to get my FREE minicourse, “Kickstart Your Abstract Painting.”