Discovering my "Muse"

If you participated in the Art Unraveled ATC or Chunky page swap -DON'T LOOK!!!!!!!!

"Discover Your Muse" is the theme for this year's Art Unraveled Conference. It was also the theme for both swaps. To be honest, I'm uncomfortable with the term "muse." For one, I heard waaaaaaaaaay too many lectures about now dead, white, male artists and their muses-often their mistresses.

Secondly, I hear artists say that their muse comes to them. That seems a little too random, too fleeting for me. So for me, I think of my muse as being what inspires me. There are days when I lack motivation. There are days when I am overwhelmed by too much stilmuli. There are days when I'd rather sleep or read or wash dishes, no, not wash dishes......
Here's my chunky page. It's very symbolic. The back of the page has a general rundown of the symbology;
Muse=Inspiration
Hand=Artmaking
Heart=Passion for Art
Eye=Vision
Ideas are many. There's not enough time in the day to do everything I'd like to accomplish but unless I get my rear in the studio and get my hands moving, nothing gets done. Then the creative process can flow.

I live and breath and sleep art. That shouldn't be a bad thing but sometimes I think I may be a little too one dimesional. Oh well. It's like breathing, gotta do it.

Being open to ideas, being able to see and interpret and act on it, that's my vision. I added one of those googley eyes, can't take myself too seriously!

The hand image is also a "Hamsa" or Hand of Fatima" depending on who you ask, or where in the world you are. It's commonly found in the Meditterean, Mideast and North Africa. It's a symbol of protection, particulary the eye that protects from the evil eye. I'm drawn to the hand symbol and have hamsa jewelery and accessories at home.
My ATC reads "Focus-Art." If I don't focus, I can't make anything. With so many distractions it's easy to get caught up in everything else and the art falls by the wayside. That's why the dishes aren't washed, there's dog hair on the carpet and the Chicklet's Brownie registration form is still on the kitchen table. BAD MOM! The weekend tickle fest took place this morning so I'm not completely a lost cause.

It's my free weekend and I took a cool class with Mike Putman at Mystic Paper today. I'll show pics tomorrow.