Competition Winners – and a Special Bonus Prize for You

Thank you to everyone who entered the What Inspires You? competition by leaving comments on the original post about your inspirations.

Fittingly, the comment thread turned out to be an inspiration in its own right, with over 100 entries that reminded me what a special group of people read this blog.

We had such a great response that I was glad I’d delegated the difficult task of judging to the artist himself, Mike Kammerling, so that I could simply enjoy the comments for their own sake. 🙂

Mike has now chosen the five winners, listed below, who will receive a very limited edition print of his inspiring image, on gorgeous reflective gold card, bearing the words ‘Tinder and Sparks’ and ‘Lateral Action’.

And as a bonus prize and Christmas gift for Lateral Action readers, Mike has kindly provided a hi-resolution graphics file of the image, which you can download for free by clicking here.

You are welcome to share the print with your friends and make use of it in any way you like – printing it, putting it on a t-shirt, using it as screensaver etc – as long as you don’t sell it or otherwise use it commercially.

And Mike’s too modest to say so himself, but I should point out that he has a whole range of creative, funny and inspiring prints on his website, which you can check out here.

So without further ado, here are the winning entries, introduced by Mike.

Thank you to everyone who shared their inspirations for this competition, I’m truly overwhelmed and humbled by the response. It was inspirational in itself to read through your thoughts. To pick people as winners was incredibly hard as everyone had so many beautiful things to say, so I chose responses that spoke to me most directly. To this end the winners are:

• Andrew Halfacre
• Sabrina Luthjens
• Slade Powell
• Wayne
• Daniel

Mike Kammerling
Tinder + Sparks

Winning Entries

Andrew Halfacre

I know this is odd because it also frightens me but I’m inspired by a crisp, good quality blank page, especially if it is in a notebook and even more if I think it would be good to write on with my fountain pen. When ever I see one of these I want to own it and do something with it. They call to me. I have too many. Trouble is, it’s also scary.

Sabrina Luthjens

Things that inspire me:

The grey sea and its smells, the wet wind as it blows
The dark of night turning into orange-pink day
The sound of the first birds as I finish a sentence
The smile on your face when I finally come home

A handshake, a taste
A shiver and drops of sweat
Nature when it’s dying or in full bloom
I have no religion but miracles do happen

Slade Powell

My inspiration comes from a quiet place inside me. If I settle my mind a bit, I can feel this big cavernous space inside my chest that’s not empty, but filled with silence. It’s calming and centering and puts my whole project in perspective, which makes it so simple to get moving on it.

Daniel

Hey everyone!

I just came across this interesting challenge today. The first reaction was to go to the bottom of the page and post my thoughts. But then I realized that too many and random things inspire me so I almost gave up on participating.

But then it instantly hit me – both figuratively and literally – as I realized that one of the most inspirational places and moments for me (as it provides break-through ideas whenever I’m stuck in a project, or generates more pure&powerful solutions when the flow of ideas is already good) is when I am sitting on the toilet. So, there you have it. My place of absolute inspiration in its most purest form. (I did not transform this into a technique or a method, but I embrace the gift whenever the “the calling” happens during a creative process.)

Wayne

At the Edge

I am at my best at the edge
A place of challenge and creativity, curiosity and change
A place both attractive and scary.
A place between past and future, pregnant with possibility

I am at my best at the edge
At the edge I can see all kinds of things I can’t see from the middle – glimpses of journeys that I might take.

My dictionary defines the edge as:

a rim or brink
the point at which something is likely to begin
the area or part away from the middle
a margin of superiority; an advantage
a provocative or discomforting quality

My edge is all of those things and more – more than any dictionary definition could capture

But my edge keeps changing.
It is not always where I expect it to be.
It is different to others’ edges so I am often at the edge on my own or with people I have yet to know.

There is no comfort at the edge.
It’s not possible to be comfortable and at the edge at the same time.

Every so often I need to step back from the edge
into the realm of comfort and complacency.
A place to rest from the rigours of being at the edge.
But soon I tire of this and find myself back at the edge.

Join me at your edge
and together we can create the impossible
That can only happen at the edge.

For more inspiration, read through the 100+ weird, wonderful, funny and practical descriptions of Lateral Action readers’ inspirations on the competition comment thread.

Thank you Mike, congratulations to the winners and a Merry Christmas one and all! 🙂