Pencil Shavings

Inspiration, or Intimidating the Muse

  Art school is tough.  Art school is awesome.  Art school is awesomely tough.

On Thursday one of my classmates came by my work table to see what I was working on.  We had one of those deliciously rare working classes, where we could work on any project that needed finishing up before our mid-term break. I was working on a mixed media piece and he was working on, well, he wasn't working on anything.

"I'm waiting for inspiration to strike me."

I looked at him briefly before saying "Waiting for inspiration to strike you is a waste of time."

This launched the class into a discussion about inspiration and the creative muse.  Here is my take on those two subjects. Firstly let me tell you that my muse is a lazy trollop who likes to spend her time in Starbucks batting her eyelashes at the cute barista who makes her favourite coffee.  She never, ever, comes to sit on my shoulder and whisper in my ear about what a great idea it would be to add Sumi-e type brush strokes to my still life paintings.  No.  She does her nails and watches daytime TV while I work away, feverishly, then comes and takes all the credit for my work when it's put up for critique.

What can I do to stop this outrageous behaviour?  Well I can shame her into putting in a minute's work every week or so by working every day regardless of whether I feel inspired or not.  Inspiration is for artists who don't want to make a living with their art.  Inspiration is a myth.

The important thing is the work.  Putting the pencil to paper every day.  Drawing and writing out every idea that pops into your head, and letting it hang out until you find a use for it.  The work is what it is, work.  If you think you'll be an artist by sitting around drinking wine and wearing a baret then give me your address and I'll send my muse to visit you, you are made for each other.

Here is what I have found.  The more I work, the more I am inspired to work.  The more I am inspired to work, the more the work inspires me, and the more I put into it.   My muse is fickle, but I don't mind, because in the end I don't need her to inspire me, I need to work.

Happy Valentine's Day to Me

I was really happy when the UPS guy showed up with a big box of books for me today.  School hasn't left me with a ton of free reading time, but I could not resist ordering this book.  It's called Michelangelo: A Life on Paper and it's all about the great master, not only his sculptural work, but also his journal entries, his poetry, and his letters.

I've already been leafing through it and I find it hard to put down.  It's so insightful, well written and compelling.  I know that I'll have to make time to keep reading through this term.