Where do ideas come from?

Destination Unknown 2021

It always interests me to hear about how something was created. What was the catalyst? What was the artist thinking? Knowing some additional details makes me appreciate the art just a little more. 

I made this image yesterday, but it was created from photographs I took in 2012 (hummingbird) and 2019 (teacup on book). I have been creating "photographic art" with birds for a couple of years but have almost always used crows. There are a lot of crows in our neighbourhood, and I find them fascinating, so I have many photos I can use when I want to create a new scene using my photo library and my imagination.

"Bird with Teacup" has been in my imagination for a loooooong time, but it's just one of those things that I've never got around to doing. For the past few days, I've been working on a presentation for my photo club about post processing...which led to me reviewing some of my creations from the past few years...which got me thinking about things I want to create.

And....also yesterday...I read a "call for submissions" for a gallery looking for "comfort food" art. I decided to submit a couple of images for this group exhibit and Destination Unknown was one of them: 

Destination Unknown, 2019

This image has already achieved some success, as it was published by PhotoEd Magazine on the contents page of their Summer 2020 issue Photography + Healing. 

PhotoEd Magazine - Summer 2020 issue

But the story goes back a little further...

I had originally made a series of teacup photos after I received a prompt from a book cover company asking for...you guessed it...images of teacups. This one, as well as several others, was accepted by the company. Maybe someday you'll see it on a book cover! (note that there is lots of negative space, an important aspect for book covers that require space for text) 

book cover - 2019

So....those two events lead me down the path of looking at all my teacup photos from 2019....needing a break from creating a slide show presentation....deciding to do something creative...et voila, Destination Unknown 2021 was born. I do need to pick a better title. (if you haven't noticed, Destination Unknown is the name of the book that the teacup is sitting on...it was removed for the book cover image, but is included in the framed photo piece).

Some titles I'm considering: Tea with a Friend, Tea Time, Time for Tea....  Nothing seems just right yet. Titles are important to me. Any suggestions?