On Fire

I leave Bali in five days for the shows in Tucson. Naturally I’m trying to get as many pieces as possible finished before I go. Down at my painting studio I have four bone pieces in various stages of painting and many more waiting to be started. I hope to have a big enough collection of these time consuming pieces, to make an impression.

I am enthralled with this new direction. The creative process has revved up and so it’s difficult to leave it when the energy is thrilling.  When I return to Bali in two months, I know I won’t be able to just jump into it again but will have to reenter slowly.  That’s the way the process works for me.

I’ve learned a lot in the last year and know I’ve just scratched the surface.  I see other people coloring bone today so it’s not unique.  In fact the Ancient Greeks colored ivory carvings as did the Chinese, Japanese, and Gothic Europeans.  But coloring already beautiful mammoth tusk seems a sacrilege and so I use the white of bone as my canvas. And I hope what I do will be different from others.

My Beading Table with Two Projects in Waiting

Sometimes I wake at night with color schemes dancing across my imagination.  I pray they’ll still be there when I get up in the morning.  This is what I live for - to be on fire with creativity.  I lie awake and think of the beads I’ll string a piece with and new ideas pop in and out of consciousness. 

For some reason it seems I’m at the height of creativity just before I have to leave it all and fly somewhere else. Is it coincidence? Or is the approaching departure stirring the pot of ideas with now or never?  All I know is that I’ll be back down at the painting studio tomorrow morning to complete the four waiting pieces.

How does this work for you?