Thursday, November 29, 2007

GPP Crusade #14

This month's theme was Imaginary Friends: Who or What is Your Muse?

I don't think I have a specific "muse". My inspiration comes from all around me. But here are a few: My kids, Vincent Van Gogh, the stars in the sky, birds in my yard, my garden, splashes of color on my paint palette, Somerset Studio magazine, but mostly that little voice inside that tells me I'm heading in the right direction.

In thinking about this theme I realized that unfortunately that other voice can be just as strong. So I have an imaginary friend and an imaginary fiend! One side says, "Wow! What a great idea...you are so creative!" the other says "Boy you suck, why bother?....give up"

Am I crazy....I hope not. Sometime one side wins, sometimes the other. I think it's all part of my personal equilibrium. I challenge myself to ignore, put aside, or defeat the negative. I try to nurture the positive. In my studio space, I surround myself with photos, sketches, my kids drawings, magazine clippings, etc...anything that fuels my creativity.

Friend or Fiend?
10x10 inch on canvas

This tree represents both the positive and the negative. The growth and development of my creativity and the fire that is ready to destroy. Both are mostly in balance, but I think creativity is winning, though I may answer different tomorrow *grins*
Underneath the layers of paint, pen, and pencil is a copy of a cabinet card. I was going to use the image to give my friend/fiend a face. It looked wrong......so I painted over it completely, but it still is there, underneath it all.
After looking at this collage for the last few days, I started thinking of one of my daughters favorite mythical creatures... the Phoenix. What a great concept! Rebirth from the ashes. I guess it happens in my artwork. I put aside projects that aren't working, only to take them out much later and rework them. I realize that I may not have gotten to the final result without the past failure.

Boy I'm rambling!
:-)

3 comments:

e.beck.artist said...

i love that you have the card that you don't like in there .... even though we won't ever see it and many wont' even know it .... i love doing that ... putting in things like secrets .... that i cover up so that they stay secret!!

thanks for visiting my blog...

Anonymous said...

xanthe - love your observation about friend/fiend. sometimes when we entertain the friend, the fiend comes in uninvited. i thinks it's ok to have the two sitting on our shoulders (like fred flintstone) because that's how we learn to push ourselves, to keep working until the friend wins. thanks for sharing your Musings with the street team. love your piece!!

carlene federer said...

love the friend/fiend concept...it's so universal...great collage as well!