“Where do you get your ideas?" or “How do you find your inspiration?" These are two questions people often ask. My first thoughts would be “How do I begin to explain?" I expect every artist has their own views on these questions. Ideas and inspiration are a deeply personal matter, perhaps something of a puzzle to the artist themselves. Though many artists would agree that a full answer would be very complicated to explain to someone who is not an artist, and who has no experience of dealing with ideas. My own way of working with ideas is to treat them in an anthropomorphic way. I am happy to receive ideas and grateful for them when they arrive, but they can turn up at inconvenient times. Often they come when I have no immediate use for them. So, I like to acknowledge them by recording them in a notebook, to keep them safe for a future time when they can be put to good use. I have a fear that if I just ignore them, they may feel rejected, take offence, and stop coming. A visual artist m