Investigating the Muse

I've been a painting machine these past few weeks. And I've been thinking about the nature of "inspiration" and the concept of "muse". Of course I'm familiar with the nine muses of Greek mythology. I remember as a young woman praying the to goddess Erato, the muse of lyric poetry, while writing a letter to someone I loved. I mean, how was I going to be persuasive, if I didn't invoke the muse?

I think every artist (writer, musician, etc) has their own muse. And at the rate that I've been working lately, I wondered if my muse might be tired of me. I began to think of her as overburdened, weighed down. So she showed up in a painting this week.

But no... I've changed my thinking about my muse. I don't think inspiration is exhaustible. I think more is better. One thing begets the next and begets the next and the next. There is always more to draw from. The artist need only show up for the moment, approach her canvas, and invoke the muse. Showing up is my responsibility. What comes next belongs to the muse.

The painting below is available HERE.

Exhausted Muse  |   24 x 24 inch acrylic on canvas

You can see some footage of me painting this piece in the video below: