my muse finds me, once or twice a year she appears when I am working hard, then she rewards me for working, mostly its a subject that is provided but she has given me a gold ring while
working!

I tell my lover that hours of wild monkey sex provides my interface with the painting muse. He tells me that it appears to increase my indolence. I'm just sublimating, I tell him, just wait until I have the strength to walk and hold a brush again.

I prefer the elevated thought and emotion of the great poets. They increase the fervor and devotion I feel for the effort. But these usually lead to a frustrated pomposity that is an unfortunate, but minor, quality of my character. I usually produce better work after reading the newspaper and a chapter or two of a genre novel and swilling coffee. Can't make a silk purse, as they say.

As a young man I use to climb to the top of an old oak tree to the highest branches some 70 feet of so.and then tie my self to them. I would sway from the wind from side to side, the view was great it gave me a different perspective on life.
Often I would fall asleep there. The feeling that i got was so deeply ingrained into me that I can still feel the sensations from it years later with some concentration, A place I often go to get away from things,and get a invigorating start for the hours to follow when I start a new work.

Not requiring a muse, I find that sufficient sleep, nutritious food, and brisk exercise, provide a sound basis for full days of sculpting and photography. I recommend maintaining a serious health regimen to my staff. When I find young people dragging themselves to the studio after late evenings of debauchery, it's time to cut them loose. It's a tough lesson for some aspiring sculptors to learn, but they will eventually find that good personal habits will be the sound foundation of their career.

Creativity for me comes in fits and starts. Waking up and being thankful first thing is important. Outlining my day is helpful as well. Trying to stay positive and reinforcing feelings of loving and approving of myself help at lot, but are difficult at times.

First things first. My husband and I take the dogs for a walk. Then if it's a paint day, I usually set up outside if it's nice. We live on a large park so it's beautiful among the old and huge trees. Since I am an abstract artist, I lay out my colors and just start right in.

Everyone is talking about our new president and all the money he is spending and trying to spend. These are hard times for many of us and my art tends to reflect these things. I am deeply concerned about the state of our natural world and my work also reflects this.

At the end of the day, I am thankful again for being able to create something meaningful and for all the good things in my life.

"I love and approve of myself" is my mantra. It bring the good to me, in whatever way I need it. Visualizing what I want to happen works well for all of life's issues. Whether it's a visit to the dentist or a day of painting.

My muse is most active after a massage. Not right after, because then I am too relaxed, but after a couple of hours I gain energy and go to work and often do so happily for some time, even several days.

So many things came to mind reading this letter. So many fond memories of rainy afternoons, painting in silence for hours with my late teacher, mentor, best friend. There is a particular light in the studio then, and a haunting silence, which we sometimes supplemented with recordings by Philip Glass, Arvo Part, or various world-music rhythms or chants.
On some days I would read aloud to him (English was his second language, so he liked being read to) from a book or journal. We seldom got further than a few paragraphs before our own conversations gained a life of their own and we were off on our own path. This always fed the following day's work.
Very occasionally we would watch a movie. (Usually foreign, often provocative, always visual.) "The Pillow Book" was especially productive for both of us, as it lead to other ways to think of painting, use of words, symbols, and "canvas"!
It's harder now without him. And we have far less rain here now. I feel his loss daily (it's been over 2 years).
Scavenging for scrap metal, old, rusty bits, and discarded detritus often gets me moving in the studio now. As does a trip through any hardware store - everything therein looks like art materials to me. When all else fails I simply cover a canvas in colours I dislike, and they compel me to continue and engage the canvas in its own conversation.
The most fundamental lesson I learned from him about BEING an artist is that you do so by going to your studio everyday. There is no need to paint every time. But you have to show up there. The discipline, the repetition, the ritual, the habit. These create the mind to make art. This mind is my real muse.
Thank you for your letters. They always scatter a tiny seed or stone for me.

I do my best work in the dark. I can cut and completely construct a garment in my mind in the dark, or build a doll or a painting. In fact, sketching before I can clearly see my objective in my head (in the dark) will often divert me off to another path and lose the original concept altogether.

I don't think it's "odd" (someone else probably will) but I MUST have music , preferably instrumental and something cold to drink , water ,iced tea, Coke, whatever is cold and wet !

Laughed out loud at "Did I mention I liked to be strapped down?"
THANK YOU!

I have always enjoyed and admired your generosity and diligence in sharing your thoughts to the art community. Today's newsletter was very interesting, but your last sentence was ghastly. Why do you wish to share such an ugly image of yourself...tainting future newsletters for your readers. You had a subversive wish beyond writing such a sentence. You wanted us to imagine your perverted behavior......"strapped in a morning bath." You have my permission to delete my name from your list.

This is great - I get to express myself another way! I found the article intriguing. Each artist is so unique and yet there is such a bond between us. I find I paint from pure emotion. The more emotional I am about the subject (I paint portrait/figure) the more inspired and usually, the better the painting. It really is like being on an emotional high and all the senses are on alert. I find music keeps me involved during the painting especially when I'm feeling isolated. I paint from photos and primarily of women and children in third world countries. When I hear of a situation that touches me I will research to acquire photos from groups involved in helping and pick ones that speak to my heart. My dream is to help these people by sending proceeds on to the organizations working with them.
Thanks for reading this and I encourage all artists in whatever work they are doing - keep at it!

Having painted for the last 30 years off and on, I've found great help in the ritual of "clearing my space" and calling in my three muses before I turn on my music and face the waiting white canvas. After the general ether is cleansed by a sage smudging, I light incense and call in my muses, one of whom is Nicoli Fechin for guidance and vision. I speak to them directly and thank them for their inspiration and, whether they hear me matters not, for I'm inspired and charged to carry on from the rung of the ladder they have taken us. I've given praise and thanks and am ready to persevere with those wonderful masters by my side.

I guess as a person is unique and different from one another; so we find inspiration in different ways. As I think about all these practices of great artists and writers it seems that it worked for them. Are these practices the source of their inspiration or were they serendipitous association when their creative forces produced great works that they then made a habit of these practices? They became more like obsessions and habits that were difficult to get out of. For me I am inspired when I look at the sky and I see cloud formations that resemble animals, objects I am familiar with, people and scenery. I am inspired when I recall happy moments in my life or when I was sad then a mental image of what I like to draw appears . These are my inspiration. Thank you very much for such a thought provoking newsletter.

I have been creative with past works, but still struggle with my future works. It is always a challenge and I constantly feel like my art career is over and that there are no new ideas possible, I am old and should just appreciate what I have accomplished. Edison`s advice to this would have been, when someone once referred to him as a genius was that "genius was 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration" . Einstein credited the mental exercises he had done in opposite interests, thus keeping the brain healthy and growing. And just lately new medical research has pointed to an early morning workout , any kind of rigorous exercise as contributing to neuron development. I guess the bottom line is if it was easy for me, then I wouldn`t feel the terrific sense of accomplishment when I finally do create something really special.

not often do i laugh out loud while reading, but my funny bones were tweaked at the sight of the artist in the coffin ( sparked my
thoughts: is her mate an undertaker? was she lucky enuff to trash pick the coffin?); and you, strapped into a tub with rag over your
face....... just LOve it!! thx for starting my day in a silly -
thoughts kinda way.. AND thx for each and every treasured penning!!

I run around outside for a while. It seems like a waste of time, but I feel energized and I want to paint. Sometimes I get the idea what to paint while running around.

I know it's not kosher to do any more, but smoke-rings beguile the mind and set the imagination in motion. I do not recommend that artists smoke a lot, but if they are capable of having only a few cigarettes it is amazing what can be seen in the haze of a few relaxed puffs while looking past the smoke to a blank canvas.

I just go to work and it happens.

Hey Kare Chapman--get a life, eh

People who do not have a reasonably advanced sense of humor should not be allowed to subscribe to Robert's excellent letters.

Congradulations to all of you that are being published in The Letter's book. And to all of us that tried. Thanks Robert for the oppertunity and what an honor.

My muse is on the corner of 52nd and Allard streets every single night. I keep thinking, if I don't paint something pretty soon, I'm going to be out there keeping her company. So far, so good.

It is precisely Robert's subversive sense of humor that makes his writing (and our subsequent reactions) so funny and thought provoking.

I love painting New York City street scenes...I installed a tv in my studio and watch programs such as NYPD, etc..This helps to bring me down memory lane...I was born in the Bronx and left NY when I was 62..I live in Chattanooga, Tn...I bring the big apple to the scenic city

Hum, I think my muse is lazy!
Wonder if she could be like "Betsy" on the gps my son-in-law let me borrow to find my way around here in Tucson! That would be sooo cool! He (I want a he since I'm a she) would tell me, to first "drive to designated route" which would mean get your butt into your studio! Then he'd tell me what to do step by step and of course, if I didn't do what he said, he'd just say "recalculating" and tell me how to go on and make my best work!
I like that idea.
Now wonder how I find that lazy muse?
He may be amused, bemused, con-mused, or something.

Workshops and what my family call "paint-ins" get me enthused about painting. These are 3 hour to 3 day visits to my talented sisters where we are free to paint, play and experiment nonstop free from any interruptions and responsibilities. Family are expected to provide for themselves. We snack, sleep and paint at wierd hours putting the creative process first at all times. What joyful times we've shared, wonderful insights, and either immediate or subsequent paintings are produced. When blocked we critique each others work, sometimes trading and modify and even cut and create collage from them. Such freedom and spontaniety is not often achieved working alone.