Sometimes it’s almost impossible to find inspiration. You toil for hours, tormenting yourself about that project that you have absolutely no ideas for. Or, maybe you just have a desire to draw, paint, or create something through other means, and you simply cannot find anything that gives you the inspiration you crave.

I have felt this way for a long time, but this morning, while making my coffee to fend off the winter’s brutal cold, I took a second to stop and look around my kitchen. Even though it seems ordinary to most, in that second with all of the snow falling and the wind wreaking havoc outside, I realized that the inspiration to create a piece of artwork was literally staring at me every day. The cute knick-knacks in front of the winter scene in the photo above would make a wonderfully cozy painting, or pastel drawing.

My point is: if you find yourself unable to spark up any creative ideas for your artwork, your writing, your music, or anything of the sort, take a second to look at the things that surround you. You might be just as surprised as I was that the things that you look at every day can be exactly what you’re looking for to create that next big project. If you ever use up your last creative straw and cannot find the subject matter you’re looking for, just take a few seconds to stop and look at everything around you. Even the coldest winter storms can be inspiration for a cozy painting.