Saturday, August 29, 2009

Night-night, Sleep Tight

What is the food that creativity thrives on?  I guess it's different for everyone.  I used to be an "early to bed, early to rise" kind of girl, grooving on the early start and painting on a 9 - 5.  And I took a certain pleasure in reading about all the artists who did the same:  Jennifer Bartlett, Elizabeth Murray...up at the crack of dawn to put in a good day's work.  And they have kids, just like me.  
Now here I am, two beers and a few hours past everyone else's bedtime, still glowing with some kind of 120 watt bulb that manages to illuminate the creative process for me, if only until I fall from fatigue.  What is it about a box of paints, a piece of paper, and some good music I've never heard before?  I can't help but feel like this is the elixir, the fountain of youth...it's like love, or jumping off the roof of your garage for the very first time...

6 comments:

  1. Even though I don't drink beer, or anything else fun (not even coffee--sigh), anymore, I get what you mean about that late-night buzz of creativity. It's one of the few constants in my life that I can trace straight back to my youthful creative self. And thankfully, it's one of the few things that's gotten better with age. Staying up into the wee hours when I was 20 usually got me a lousy piece of writing. Period. Today, staying up gets me a lousy piece of writing with the potential of being a pretty okay, not-too-bad piece of writing. Ah, progress!
    xo Gigi

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  2. Good morning - I just had to stop by and leave you a note because you have the most wonderfully fabulous blog. I've loved reading your interesting posts, all very creative and great pictures too. What could be more perfect ? Thanks for sharing them all and best wishes...

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  3. Thanks, Elise! I'll look forward to exploring your blog...I'm always eager to share material from other areas of the arts with my painting students, and yours looks like a rich source. Have a lovely day.
    Nancy

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  4. What kind of paints do you have there?

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  5. Val -- it's Holbein Gouache. The good stuff!

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  6. Yes the creative muse always seems to come to me late in the night and I am definitely not a morning person. Love the paints you have there, makes me want to dive in right now and create something.

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