As a full time artist it’s easy to start to feel uninspired when you feel like you have to create instead of doing it solely for the passion and joy. The short answer to fixing this is to stop, go out and do the things that bring you inspiration. It’s significantly more helpful to already have a list of the things that bring you inspiration than to try to come up with them in the moment so I challenge you to make your own list. It’s rarely going to be found scrolling online but maybe some of my list will bring you inspiration as well. My inspiration comes from visiting real places, meeting real people, and getting my own hands dirty in that red dirt and dust .

Here are six things that keep my creative fire burning:

1. Early Morning Photography

Before the sun fully rises, there’s this soft golden light that drapes across a land like a worn blanket. That’s the hour I’m often out with my camera, catching the cattle as the morning fog burns off. These photos become my references, not just for anatomy, for the mood. The way light bends around a horn or silhouettes the animal is more important to me than the paintbrush I choose.

2. The Smell of Leather and Old Wood

I know it sounds strange, but scent is tied directly to memory — and memory feeds everything I paint. The smell of saddle leather, barn dust, sun-warmed rope, even old pickup dashboards. That’s the Western life. Those smells are a kind of mental sketchbook. When I walk into a tack room or an antique barn, ideas come rushing in. Yeah, sometimes it’s for leather work and not paintings but still counts.

3. Stories My Grandpa Told Me

I love listening to Grandpas stories. He’s not one of those old men who sit on a porch all day talking. He’s as hardworking as ever and does not repeat himself. If you’re smart enough to listen when he speaks you will learn a thing or two. His stories are short and to the point but still paint the best pictures. My favorites are of him and his horse Nugget and their adventures and riding around the Nevada desert. Some are as short as, “Yep, we were seven miles from home and something spooked him, he threw me and took off for home. I had to walk the seven miles back. I didn’t get in trouble for being late.” Some are a bit longer and like how he met my Grandma but that’s for another time.

Steve Doran and the infamous Nugget sometime in the 1940’s

4. Vintage Country & Dark Folk Music

Sometimes, inspiration comes through the record player. I work to Marty Robbins, Waylon Jennings, and Loretta Lynn in the background mixed with modern voices like Corb Lund or Colter Wall. There’s something in outlaw country and alternative folk that feels like it takes you to another place. I can’t listen to The Brothers Comatose without getting goosebumps and watching a movie in my head as all of it becomes inspiration for paintings. The one that inspires me the most is my husband writing new music or refining the stories he tells through his country americana style. Getting to listen to a small idea blossom into an entire world is amazing. Music sets the tone for my brushwork and creativity breeds creativity.

5. Old Western Comics & Dime Store Cowboy Novels

The Pulpy over the top drama of old Western comics and Cowboy short stories is a gold mine of inspiration. I love the art in the comics from the 40’s and 50’s and although it has defiantly inspired some of my pieces it’s the stories they tell that are the best inspiration. I like stories where the good guy wins or have a well crafted redemption arch. I love finding tattered copies of forgotten dime store novels and gently flipping through during quite times.

Forewarning if you are going to read vintage works remember what was acceptable in the world the years they were published.

Merc in her camper reading Dime Western Magazine

6. Exploring Forgotten Towns

There’s something magnetic about a small town with old architecture and if you're lucky working vintage sighs. I will prefer taking backroads instead of the freeway any day. As my Grandpa once said, “You can drive across this whole country and never see any of it.” Old neon signs, ghosted lettering on brick, half-collapsed barns and that feeling you get in limital spaces that once held so much life. These places carry a mood that I can bring back to the paper. So sit down and sketch a while.

The Takeaway?

If you feel uninspired get out and do something you enjoy.

Got something unexpected that inspires you? I’d love to hear it.

Follow me on Instagram for behind the scenes sketches and the songs that shape each piece.

Make time for youself,

MERC

6 Things that Inspire Me