Morning Muse

Morning Meditation

 

 

Something odd and wonderful has been happening. Several mornings ago, somewhere between dream and reality, I heard a distinctive voice say;

Grief!

Can't wait.

Not here.

Must go.

Waking up to a haiku is pretty special, even though the message did leave me with a sense of loss. 

 

Then today, at the wee hour of 3 am, I woke to this poem;

I am a paradox.

I am a conundrum.

I am not unusual,

           but I am unique.

I am a human,

 being.

I got up, made coffee, grabbed my journal and started to write. 

 

With so much time on my hands, I  finished reading The Mixed Media Artist by Seth Apter. Among the pages I saw some of my favorite artists; Geoffrey Gorman, Jeane Myers, Crystal Neubauer and Laura Lein-Svencner.

In the section, Beyond the Surface, Seth asked the artists in-depth questions regarding their inspirations and philosophies. I found that part most interesting. Of course the book is full of wonderful art, great tips and techniques. Each artist has a two page spread, with the artist in their studio and a featured work of art. They  also share their most inspiring art quote, 4 things in their studio and 3 things that inspire them (only 3!).

So I asked myself, what inspires me and I couldn't just think of 3, so I made 10 categories, with 3 inspirations per category. That was a lot of fun, and I could have gone beyond 10, but I stopped and took that creativity into my studio where I was able to get a couple of hours in before heading out to yoga.

Here are a few of my categories:

Category #1

* My eyes, they allow me to see the beauty around me.

* My feet, they carry me near and far.

* My spirit, which leads me to that mysterious place where creation and creativity reside.

Category # 3

* Love

* Touch

* Kindness

Category #6

* Baking bread

* Cooking

* Eating

I believe in engaging all my senses. They were given to us to explore, love and learn from.

Namaste.

An Authentic Artist

Louise Nevelson

If there have been complications

in my life,

the work was not

the complication;

the complication was

the world and its blindness

As artists, if we could always live and create with that phrase rumbling about in our minds, we would stop judging our efforts and begin to allow the flow of creativity to course through our bodies and express itself onto the surface of our choosing.

I recently bought three books which I hope will help me mature my creative vision:

 Nevelson, The way I think is collage;  

The Art of Collage, Contemporary Collage in Modern Art

Robert Motherwell, Early Collages

So far, I have only been through Nevelson's book which includes more than 30 years of her collages and incredibly fluid sculptures.  The book is scattered with her thoughts, this one particularly resonated with me:

You don't necessarily have to take a pencil or a pen or something and draw. There are many ways. Let's say collage. By using it meant that it already gives me my drawing. Because the nails and the holes in the nails, and all the different things. What would you say when a car goes over a piece of wood and it comes out with all sorts of things, dents and things in it? Well those are drawings. It is much more direct, doing it the way I do it, it's immediate, it's true and it's there.

Nevelson was born in Russia in 1899 and passed in 1988 in New York. She left a legacy for us to learn from.