Moodboards

'At its simplest, a moodboard is a collection of pictures of things you like. It just helps you make sense of all the ideas floating through your head. The trick is not to over-think it. Let your intuition guide you and, as your board takes form, so the unconscious threads that weave together your personal taste will come to the fore.'

I tore the quotation above from a copy of a design magazine about 6 years ago - the title escapes me now. I know that those 'unconscious threads' of personal taste have taken form, but for the last six years I have been keeping scrapbooks of cuttings, paint charts, fabric samples and drawings knowing that they continue to act as a source of inspiration for everything creative that I do. Now that I have the space, these scrapbooks have spread to the any available pinboards and walls too...

Sometimes I just sit and look through the scrapbooks, or sit at my desk gazing at the sumptuous pictures from magazines and newspapers, postcards and advertisements, wondering what it is that makes me so drawn to particular colours and shapes. Occasionally an idea for a project is sparked off by an image, but more often than not I just feel a general sense of appreciation for things which are, simply, pleasing to the eye.