Graeme Base Quotes

I'm very inspired by nature - you could say Mother Nature. I look at things around me and get all kinds of inspiration daily.

Nature is the fountain's head, the source from whence all originality must spring.

Nature's my muse and it's been my passion.

Nature is my springboard. From her I get my initial impetus. I have tried to relate the visible drama of mountains, trees, and bleached fields with the fantasy of wind blowing and changing colors and forms.

Art is the child of Nature; yes, her darling child, in whom we trace the features of the mother's face, her aspect and her attitude.

I am following Nature without being able to grasp her, I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.

I try not to invent; I try simply to translate the weird language of the natural world. And I'm not into absolute ownership of things.

A mere copier of nature can never produce anything great.

I get inspiration from a lot of things around me - nature, hills, people, and even insects.

I don't write about nature, but I'm definitely very inspired by it.

When I'm outside gardening, it can be so inspiring. I think of words and melodies. It's peaceful. Every singer-songwriter should find something outside of music that makes them as happy as gardening makes me.

I think I'm very easily inspired. People, wildlife, nature, music, art. I think that I'm lucky that I have this great sense of wonderment about life in general.

Imagination alone is not enough, because the reality of nature is far more wondrous than anything we can imagine

... the natural world is the old river that runs through everything, and I think poets will forever fish along its shores.

Butterflies doing strange things in very beautiful ways were in my mind when I sat down, but by the time my pen was uncapped my thoughts had shifted to rocks.

The observation of nature is part of an artist's life.

Art is the child of Nature.

Am I crazy?" she asked. "I feel like I am sometimes." "Maybe," he said, rubbing her forehead. "But don't worry about it. You need to be a little bit crazy. Crazy is the price you pay for having an imagination. It's your superpower. Tapping into the dream. It's a good thing not a bad thing.

Daydream, imagine, and reflect. It’s the source of infinite creativity.

Art is the child of Nature; yes, Her darling child, in whom we trace The features of the mother's face, Her aspect and her attitude, All her majestic loveliness Chastened and softened and subdued Into a more attractive grace, And with a human sense imbued. He is the greatest artist, then, Whether of pencil or of pen, Who follows Nature.

One of the weaknesses of much abstract painting is the attempt to substitute the inventions of the intellect for a pristine imaginative conception. The inner life of a human being is a vast and varied realm and does not concern itself alone with stimulating arrangements of color, form and design. The term 'life' as used in art is something not to be held in contempt, for it applies all of its existence, and the province of art is to react to it and not to shun it. Painting will have to deal more fully and less obliquely with life and nature's phenomena before it can again be great.

I believe fervently in the nature, in truth and imagination, I believe in the blood, in life, words, and motivations.

Never underestimate the stimulation of eccentricity.

Without poets, without artists, men would soon weary of nature's monotony. The sublime idea men have of the universe would collapse with dizzying speed. The order which we find in nature, and which is only an effect of art, would at once vanish. Everything would break up in chaos. There would be no seasons, no civilization, no thought, no humanity; even life would give way, and the impotent void would reign everywhere.

Gather out of star-dust, Earth-dust, Cloud-dust, Storm-dust, And splinters of hail, One handful of dream-dust, Not for sale.