Ah, the Muse

I have been thinking a lot about "the Muse" and where it goes and when it comes back.  I have decided there is no muse lurking out there waiting for me to come into the studio.  I have only me. And that means I have to feed the soul regularly with ideas, thoughts, images, feelings and lots of work.  The work includes cleaning up the studio, painting papers for collages, searching out new artists, learning new ways of doing things and trying new ideas.  It also means working in multiple media as one media feeds my thoughts into another.

For instance, as I work on painting papers in a new palette of color, I have been thinking about using these colors in my fabric collages.  And, again, as I incorporate more texture into my paper collages, I think a lot about how I can incorporate more texture into my fabric.  The ideas are sloshing around in the back of my brain, incubating.  Some times I take the time to sit down and write the ideas in my sketch book, but many times I just let them free float around in the grey matter.

Taking the painting class has been really good for me.  I am working in a media I really have never worked in before (oil painting) in a way I don't generally work (layers and layers and layers) and learning as I go.  I have been learning, not just with this class, but also the one with Gerry Brommer, that I can take my time to think about what I am doing and why.

I was talking to the instructor last week about how much I am having fun with this process.  And he reminded my that art isn't always fun.  On this point, I absolutely agreed and shared with him my thought that it was work but the work of art is problem solving which I really enjoy doing, therefore, the work is fun. The joy of taking the time to really look at what you are drawing on that canvas. The play of different colors. The multiple colors used in the foundation, none of which will be around at the end of the painting. And knowing that it will change and that how it changes will be up to me.

I continue to do my small paper collages and really enjoy these.  I am getting quite a stack of them and will have to figure out what to do with them.  But, for now, just enjoy:

This 7 x 7" piece is all in neutrals with various rice papers with inclusions.  So far, the tints I have used on it are all neutrals, quite a change for me. I am trying to decide if I want to add some color to this or not

This 6 x 6" piece is created using some rice paper, some stained papers that I have been doing and texture from wallpaper samples.  Again the colors are rather subdued and reflect a big pile of papers I have been painting the past several days.

Again, using the same colors as the piece above, but shades instead of tints.  What fun I am having trying out new colors, new color ways, layers of color and who know what else.  

This one was actually finished a few days ago, again using the quinacridone gold and other paints. I love the depth I have gotten with this and the different textures.

 

 More work is waiting me on the table.  Collages part way done and a painting that I did some time ago that I am now ready to change into something totally different with a really different way of painting.  Too much fun!