CYCLES OF INSPIRATION SERIES | Isabella Domm Art

"CYCLES OF INSPIRATION" - 2025

Essentially, I asked my friends & family if anyone would be interested in being a subject for a painting that I’d put up for sale. The story behind it is that they’d tell me their favorite song / album, some would tell me a reason for it being their favorite or how it inspires them, and then I’d listen to that music while painting their portrait. They also picked the reference pictures for me to choose from.

My personal motivation for wanting to create this series is that I’m so heavily inspired by music and it drives me to create— but I also am very passionate about human connections, and so I figured: I should incorporate real human beings whose presence in my life impact me every day in contrast to my regular paintings of celebrities in the limelight (who I don’t know at all, of course) into my artwork and most importantly put them up to be displayed in a gallery setting, because they deserve that recognition for the amazing people that they are. I’ll withstand the constant questions of, “who is this person”because of course the majority of people are going to be unsure of who it is… that’s the point, to get to know somebody new.

So anyway the final product is an amalgamation of multiple factors— the synesthesia I experienced while listening, the colors I imagined embodied this person’s “aura” from knowing them personally, what they may have told me about their history with this music and its significance to them, colors that resemble the cover art of the music, etcetera…

I’m eternally grateful for another opportunity to share more of my artwork with the world, especially in my hometown where it’s accessible to those who matter most to me.

Jon

INSPIRED BY KING STINGRAY'S SONG, "SOUTHERLY"

I wanted to make a visual representation of the colors of my friend Jon's personality, as well as the colors of the song he chose. He says the song inspires him to live each day to the fullest and look forward to what's coming, and that he likes the song for the positive upbeat vibe it has. I definitely felt that too while listening :)

Cedric

INSPIRED BY BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD'S ALBUM, "ANTS FROM UP THERE"

For this piece, I wanted to do something a bit different by editing the reference picture to detach certain facial features and place them randomly and playing around with the colors and contrast between all the elements. I found this album to be an emotional rollercoaster, and I know that's part of the reason Cedric loves it-- it's a story and a journey. With all the different loud horns and drum beats, I added different dots and jagged lines and shapes. I wanted to create movement to symbolize the various expressive instruments I heard along the way.