Sometimes being playful opens new doors to the imagination. You look at a knot on a gnarled tree with the eyes of a child and see a fae being, instead. Your dog morphs into another creature altogether—or your boss does! (There now, doesn’t that feel better?!)
A neighbor’s beagle gave me the pose, and I took off from there! Baby dragon? Stick faerie? Why not?
I often pick up bits of old wood or tree roots and see things in them. This grinning, warty, tree troll hangs in my studio now, after kindly modeling for me.