Art and the Muse

I think the muse is overrated. She is never there when you need her, god forbid she should show up when you want her! The only thing I have experienced that invites the muse is hours and hours and hours of work. Frustration. Failure. Stubborn pushing through the worst kind of art making that results in - nothing. After years, sometimes, of this irrational behavior, discouraged by all but your most loath opponents, a glimmer of something worthy begins to emerge. In the meantime, what do you have to show for all your effort? Often mounds of trash. Bad art. Fodder for the fire. Occasionally, something good shows up. When that happens, my heart does a little flip. Maybe I am not so crazy to continue to pursue this dream, this obsession, this insanity... Maybe, I will keep going and something else will show up, tomorrow. Meanwhile, another day at the salt mines. Work is work and the muse is really just a fickle thing, inspiration who can't be counted on. My habit of working can be, though. So, today, I will push through the blocks and get to it.

Mad on Vegetarian Times

Thanks to Robin Turk for this brilliant cover pic of a mad bowl.