What do you do when inspiration won't show up, and you're forced to hunt it down? My September was filled with a large project, a work that defied all attempts to get the composition right. Sketch, walk away, come back, sketch, view it backwards in a mirror, frown, erase parts, walk away, come back and sketch some more, turn it upside down, muffle a scream of frustration, throw a thought towards gasoline and matches, and on, and on, and on. It was maddening ... and what could I do?
Any sensible person would seek advice, so I turned to some old friends. To be specific: Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Wassily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Edvard Munch, and the always-entertaining Jackson Pollock. Every one of them struggled with a composition now and then, and eventually wrestled it into submission. The feeling of camaraderie (however tangential) with such talented people is lovely; the feeling of better "knowing" those you will never meet is the icing on the cake. I hope their words mean as much to you as they do to me.
Any sensible person would seek advice, so I turned to some old friends. To be specific: Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Wassily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Edvard Munch, and the always-entertaining Jackson Pollock. Every one of them struggled with a composition now and then, and eventually wrestled it into submission. The feeling of camaraderie (however tangential) with such talented people is lovely; the feeling of better "knowing" those you will never meet is the icing on the cake. I hope their words mean as much to you as they do to me.
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