Calling in the Muse
Posted on 17 September 2009
This is a painting I did several years ago, in New York City. It is a painting from life, and this model was a great subject. I was taught by artist Fred Gregory, my undergraduate painting teacher years before, to paint from life quickly and to wipe away whatever you did, then start with a new pose and paint quickly. I do believe sometimes we were all wiping away our best efforts. But he didn’t want us to get too precious about our work, which is a good thing because it keeps you feeling good rather than static and stuck. Sometimes I regret not saving a figure study, and sometimes I did save one such as the one above. In this painting, I allowed a figure study partially wiped away, beneath the musician, to remain just a little. It made me smile because often when I’m creating, I feel this joy and mysterious sort of urging, as though a great force of love and life is behind me, helping me to create. I began to feel I was capturing the essence of an artist or musician’s muse here, and maybe the painting was showing me what I have always believed to be true, which is that when you truly ask for help, it arrives. If you go into a creative effort with a good feeling inside and a confidence that you will be helped in your process, more good feeling rushes up to meet you. How you feel inside is so important. I realize that when asking for anything, how we feel inside is key. Approaching any work or creative action, maybe any action at all, with joy seems to activate more joy. Feeling good emotion seems to build more good emotion. Expect a muse to arrive, in fact know that already a muse is there, waiting for you to begin creating. Our guides and muses are there waiting for us to meet them, a brilliant and loving universal source of life energy is waiting for us to tap into it. You can just feel that behind you, a whisper at your shoulder.
8 responses to Calling in the Muse
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I love this — you really do capture something in his facial expression — something deep and soulful. I’m glad you kept this one. Mom
Just an amazing painting!!!!
I’m so glad you mentioned our teacher Fred Gregory. He was a great and real mentor to me in college, they were few and far between at our school. I really miss him and wish I could have told him what he meant to me. I still have all of those quick oil paintings from life I did in his classes. It was some of the best painting work I did at school.
Michael, I would so love to see that work you did. Can you show it on your new blog/site? Do you still hear Mr.Gregory say, “We’re painting, not scrubbing the bathroom!”
He had a lot of great quotes like that. He was never appreciated. I do know he was fascinated by my colorblindness, so we did an independent study on it together. I don’t have a blog or site, but maybe I’ll post those paintings on my Facebook page. I already have some of my lithographs on display there now.
You know he studied with Josef Albers, so his sense of color was sharp and deep. I think any vision difference is really intriguing in terms of art and vision. Did you know I always had a “wandering eye”? Each of my eyes does it’s own thing, I cannot get them to both see the same thing the same exact way. I don’t notice it unless I’m looking through 3-D glasses or being asked to do something through lenses at the eye doctor. Everyone should see your lithos and I’d really like to see the painting images. I wish you had a website.
I didn’t know he studied with Albers.
That’s funny about your wandering eyes, I was diagnosed with the same thing several years ago. I can’t use 3-D glasses or Viewmasters.
I can post a link to my lithos on Facebook here and people could see it. But, that’s your call.
YES, I told you before to post a link, or I will!
You’re like me with the no-viewmaster thing! We must both be psychic bec the Nat. Americans said anyone who had eyes like that were the seers. That was one cool thing to go along w/ the misery it can cause!
I remember seeing this painting before but didnt know the background info on it. I loved hearing it. I always really felt this painting when I looked at it. I could really feel this man in hte painting. I could just stare at it forever and feel like it would keep on talking to me.