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November 4, 2008 The Ebb and Flow of Creativity
Creativity and my artwork have defined me for most of my life. In the past few years, I have had to put aside my own wants and needs, for others I care deeply about, to take care of them. I believe it is in our deepest ravines and our highest peaks that we define ourselves. Coming out of that space is so revealing. Recently, I have been somewhat sidetracked on the above painting. Artist's seem to have periods of what I call " being enlightened", or being inspired creatively. This is one of those times for me. After a very long, tough period in my life, taking care of ailing family members, children and myself - things have begun to clear. Responsibility is shifting and releasing. The floodgates of creativity have opened, or overrun the dam, and I have so many concepts for paintings in my head, I can't get them down fast enough. In the past three weeks I have started eight new paintings, (all large). I also have two sculptures in progress. It is a time in my work that I really enjoy, but it can be exhausting as well. I awaken at night and write down what has come to mind during the middle of the night, or in a dream as I slept. I sketch, write and do color thumbnails of what I want to do with the idea. Its often 3:00 to 4:00 am when I get my best ideas
All the while, I still have a 6:00 wake up call, to get my son off on his day. So, there is little time for sleep. In the next few days I will be adding some of the ones that have come full circle through the process, as I finish them. Most are about 1/3 to 1/2 done. They are more contemporary in style, and extremely colorful. Again more along the lines of the "Planting the Seeds" painting. Thanks for your patience, I hope you will find the results pleasing. .
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