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Thursday, January 10, 2013

Studio Rituals
Have I ever told you about my muse?

She is a thing of smoke and vapors, giddy and clever, caring not for the clock or food or sleep or restless dogs or dinner dates.  Yesterday I spent the afternoon fussing about in the studio, combing through cabochons, pushing bits and scraps of silver around, driving to the art store and buying a handful of new watercolors.  There was this thing, this idea, this phrase I wanted to bring to tangible life.  I knew the visceral movement of it, the emotional evocation, the balance, the ascetic, the raw feeling of it, but the physical form fleeted just out of reach.

A nebulous, potent idea, like grasping air or balancing water.

Then, after the studio was closed down for the night, after dinner and wine and tea and this ridiculous flourless-chocolate-cake-from-WholeFoods-my-newest-gluttonous-addiction, and teeth brushing and face washing...
After all that, my muse woke up.
(how fabulously, terribly typical)
I was so tired, so physically done, but my mind came alive with color.  In the dark shadows of the bedroom I could see it, translucent and spacial, arcing and sparking.  The essence of idea distilled to form.  I felt that if I could just close tight my eyes and trace those colors with my fingertips, the glowing line left behind would hold the key to unlocking this visceral riddle like a land map to buried treasure.
I laid in bed and debated.  It was cozy under my hive of blankets and the studio was no doubt hovering around 39 degrees.  Sancho was already snoring.  And so I asked her, with a bit of chagrin, if she could please just let me sleep and come back in the morning after coffee.
* * *

4 comments:

prairiegirl said...

Sure she came back. With a soft owl feather, she tickled your forehead until you opened your eyes with a smile. Now then, the darkest coffee along with thoughts of color spinning round and round, just like before. Lay it down. X

Valerianna said...

Do hope she came... beautiful music... thanks!

Mel said...

Beautifully written.. and I can relate to the marvelous 'madness' of when the muse times her epiphany!
I'm sure you already do.. but do you have a journal at your bedside to scribble such tracings down in?
Trusting another beauty-full creation was hatched this new day!
mel
needle and nest design

AppaloosaMoon said...

I envy you & your muse...
i praise you & your creative soul...
i love your colorful eye,
your open heart
&
tender respect
for a gift so unique.

yoU are living...the Dream!

Xo