Where Do our Designs Come From?

Where do our designs come from? Well there is one school of thought that says nothing is really totally new. We are merely recycling things we have already seen and tucked away in some corner of our minds . There may be some truth to that . Above is a picture I took at Ghost Ranch of the mountains  off in the distance. When it came time to work on the cover to my book, I really did not have a defined picture to draw from , and so I just started to paint.  I think I just went into that part of my mind I will call my design center. I do not even know why I put in that turquoise door. A focal point of color perhaps. It is such a southwest color, and one I use a lot in my work.
 Later, as I was walking back to my room, I saw a door just that color.Was I copying what I had seen unconsciously ? Did all the images I had seen there, or elsewhere, just go deep into that design corner of my brain, waiting until I needed them to create my artwork ?  Well, that's the nice thing about a blog, it is food for thought for all of us. Please, tell your experiences.