Patrician DesignPatrician Design
  • About
    • About PATRICIAN DESIGN
    • In The News
    • Design Resources
    • Testimonials
  • Projects
    • Commercial
    • Residential
    • Exterior
    • Custom
  • Boutique/Gallery
    • What’s NEW!
    • About The Shop
    • Greeting Cards
    • Original Art
    • Handcrafted Jewelry
    • Designs for Living
    • Bath and Body
  • Contact
  • Patti Says…

The Seeds Which Result in Enthusiastic Inspiration.

Posted On May 13, 2018 By pattisays In architecture, artistic expression, building blocks, children, construction, creative process, creativity, design, design process, Discovering Art, fanciful design, hiring an interior designer, inspiration, interior design, joy, kids' art, landscape design, lighting, nostalgia and design, parades, personal expression, Subscribers, toys /  

When is the seed planted for a child who might just pursue a career in the arts, architecture or related design fields? How did the aptitude and interest first present itself? When are varied interests honed into a focused passion? If you’re reading this as a “creative,” do you remember the earliest exercises flexing your creativity?

As an budding interior designer, I always enjoyed changing my room and futzing around the  house arranging accessories and still-life groupings. Color was always important as were patterns and textures.  Balance seemed intuitive too. I loved visiting art galleries and I became aware that I noticed and possessed an appreciation for art in its many forms, styles and media.  I derived great joy from recognizing beauty, potential and the creative process.  It followed to the out-of-doors too as I loved the gardens, layers of trees  and made truly organic “forts” in the log pile nestled in the fallen oak and tulip poplar leaves of my childhood.

I also practiced landscape design – trimming English ivy meticulously from underneath so as not to whack off the front edges. I created exotic fern gardens by finding indigenous ferns in the woods and bringing them into the less wild pockets of our wooded backyard – arranging and placing them just right. Spider plants procreated their dangling off-spring that I trimmed and rooted in multiple clay pots lining our patio wall waiting to mature over the summer and be presented as gifts to admiring plant lovers.

Upon returning from a lively Padres and Cardinals baseball game last night, we were greeted by a spot-lit city and pompous parallel parade.  Our boldly preciously precocious 7 year granddaughter

had created a magical world with all manner of pets, creatures, super heroes and trinkets  adorning the architecture and riding in the parade of colorful vehicles.

 

The lighting was particularly effective as it cast shadows and illuminated the many elements and characters that animated the scene. This is the perfect temptation for rival siblings to destroy. One sweeping sword  or outstretched arm would send this amazing project to rubble. Tonight however there was no such rivalry resulting in destruction. Rather it was protected and revered until we arrived home for the presentation.

“You like my  city, don’t you?” was the confident query – set-forth with an affirmative assumption – regardless of the questioning format, of the comment she delivered. Yes the city and parallel parade was quite exceptional. So much so that it inspired thoughtful observation and examination including this writing today.

As I knelt down and captured various angles of the structures, towers, tiers, columns, pediments and facades with my trusty phone, I realized that this took a tremendous amount of material.  The raw wooden building blocks were nostalgically familiar – the very same blocks, triangles, square and round columns, bricks and cubes with which I had built towering structures as a child. Creativity can certainly be spawned with limited resources and often results in remarkably ingenious results, but as  looked around this particular scene, I discovered baskets, bins, boxes and piles of things. Things with which  to create a limitless fantasy world.

These, paired with her wonderful imagination, were the tools of this creative child who had a treasure trove of parts and pieces, characters and vehicles providing countless components waiting for the imagination to assemble into this and other amazing scenes. Singing while she works, it is evident that this child is over-flowing with artistic expression.

The fantastic architecture and design we admire today was spawned by creative minds using existing tools or inventing new elements to create and ultimately construct seemingly unimaginable buildings around the world.  Yet they were imagined and they became realities from fantastic dreams and ideas, bravery and determination. A creative will that was once a seed of enthusiastic inspiration.

Happy Mother’s Day to all, with a particular emphasis on mine for all of her creativity and encouragement though the years, of my many phases of artistic exploration, appreciation and expression.

 

 

Share on TwitterTweet
Share on Pinterest Share
Send email Mail
Selecting Stone
Picking PINK!

1 Comment

  1. Lynne Westphal
    May 17, 2018 at 1:42 pm

    Sweet testament to the ever energetic and creative Calista! Thanks for the celebration in word and photo of this talented little human!!! I’m sure she was delighted to read your encouraging words.

Comments are closed.

Recent Posts

  • DOWNSIZING: Part Two of Three February 21, 2025
  • DOWNSIZING: Part One of Three November 5, 2024
  • Colors and the Creamy Attraction of Latte August 29, 2024
  • Designing, Styling and Why – Finding Personal Style April 30, 2023
  • Fabrics – Texture, color, pattern, design & style – The Art of Transformation August 7, 2022

Archives

Categories

Patrician Design

Recent Blog Posts

  • DOWNSIZING: Part Two of Three February 21, 2025
  • DOWNSIZING: Part One of Three November 5, 2024
  • Colors and the Creamy Attraction of Latte August 29, 2024
  • Designing, Styling and Why – Finding Personal Style April 30, 2023
  • Fabrics – Texture, color, pattern, design & style – The Art of Transformation August 7, 2022

Get in Touch!

Come Visit Us!

216 GOLD AVENUE
ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87102

MON-FRI: 9 AM – 5 PM
SAT-SUN: 9 AM – 2 PM

(505) 242-7646
shop@patriciandesign.com

© 2025 Patrician Design. All Rights Reserved.