I think there is something so intriguing about being able to express moments and stories through visual forms—exercises like creating moodboards can open you up to new connections and thought processes while training your eye for creative detail and inspiration. With the feedback that I’ve been getting from the inspiration versus imitation post, I thought it would be a great exercise to start to visualize particular moments or moods in a new way and see where this practice might lead. I’ve asked five of my blogger friends to participate in this adventure this week, and I hope you’re as excited as I am to start to see a little snippet into the creative mindset and process of some very talented folks. Starting off this week of guest posts will be the lovely and incredibly talented Jo from Hey Jo! I’m always inspired by her aesthetic and eye for design detials, and you can clearly see what I mean with her moodboard picks.

FROM JO—As I write this I feel terribly jet lagged.  I’ve been in Mexico and while only there for a very short time I managed to get quite ill (understatement) and spent a day or so in bed.  Aside from feeling sorry for myself I did manage to lie on the sand and feel my hair blow in the salty breeze while the warm sunshine formed a freckle bridge over my nose and onto my cheeks.  Oh and I read.  A lot.  I believe I could do that for a living.  I also believe I am the boss of shade-bathing (like sun bathing but minus the burn which is all that ever happens to my pale English skin).  Anyway, it was beyond therapeutic and I now find myself longing for Spring & Summer to hurry up and stay a while.  Seriously, where is it?  (Snow, I’m looking at you).  This all got me to thinking about how much the seasons affect my style, both personally and professionally.  All I want to see now I am officially done with Winter are images flooded with sunlight, drenched with floral blooms and filled with open-toed sandals & brightly coloured nails: perfect for dipping into the sparkling azure waters of somewhere offensively hot.  Yes, I am a glutton for such things and I’m not in the least bit sorry.  Sunshine and salt water revive me which is the perfect solution for getting ‘it’ done.  And by ‘it’ I mean work.  And by work I mean the thing I do for a living which I happen to be in love with.  And for that I am very lucky and even more grateful.  And, well, that’s that.  These images represent all that I am looking forward to in the coming months and make me feel happy just by looking at them.  I suppose that in the end, that’s why I chose them; because they make me smile and excited for a summer season which I hope will be the best yet.  I am nothing if not completely and totally optimistic.  (I do live in England, after all).

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Thank you thank you Jo! Be sure to stop by her blog for more of this lovely on the reg.