The Muse

The Muse, Oil on Canvas, 12x36, Fall 2006 (sold)

This was a vision I had while waking up one morning. I didn’t know where it came from necessarily, but instead of sitting around and wondering, I just started painting and kept going… and this is what came out… hence, the title.

I actually did part of it as a demo for a class I was teaching. While talking about adding a thick more opaque layer over the thin layers underneath, I added the red nose and white face paint for the demo. Since this painting wasn’t using anything as a reference (ie. photo or model), the class was surprised with my additions. I distinctly remember a collective *gasp* when I did it.

If I stop to think about this particular painting, I can see pieces of other paintings I’ve done previously compiled into this one. This is something I noticed in hindsight…

hmmm.. let’s take a look…

I’m definitely seeing some similarities and influence here…

Here’s some info I found about the word ‘muse’ that seemed appropriate to this painting and to my experience painting it…
- Muse: the term refers to a source of inspiration, accessible by artists and generally restricted to artists (artists in a broad sense). The muse is not in itself a delusion, or hallucination, but rather a myth to which writers, musicians, painters and more are able to credit the conception of their art to - those times when the artist has not been actively designing a piece, but spontaneously has an idea for one.
- Muse in modern day terms refers to a guiding spirit or a source of inspiration.
- To be absorbed in one's thoughts; engage in meditation
- The condition of being so lost in solitary thought as to be unaware of one's surroundings
- To think or think about carefully and at length
- To experience dreams or daydreams
- To reflect deeply on a subject

The Muse came spontaneously, but that spontaneity comes from a combination of several aspects of myself – from life, art, other paintings I’ve done, other paintings I’ve seen, dreams, etc - all put into this one painting ...and hopefully others I do as well.