The Muse takes Control

Up until about 3 or 4 years ago, most of my paintings came about in a pretty typical way for a representational painter: I'd see or take a picture of something and then decide to paint it. I'd often play around with the composition or lighting, add or subtract elements, or alter the "mood" a bit. But most of my paintings originated through this rather "left-brained" process.

I was pretty happy with this approach. After all, this is what I learned in art school and later, my mentors here in Colorado. Many, many representational artists create much of their work in this way. There is nothing wrong with this. Being inspired by what an artist directly sees or experiences has been a pretty well-accepted approach to art for the last 5,000 years or more.

But there have been artists of all kinds who have created works in slightly different ways. Sometimes, as in the song "Yesterday" written by Paul McCartney or the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the work comes to us in a dream. Others might "see" a finished painting or sculpture suddenly pop into their brains while doing something else, such as driving or meditating, then later create the piece as they saw it in their mind's eye.  Others at times seem to tap directly into an unseen source or flow of creative inspiration. We might call this a Muse, our creativity, or our artistic spirit - something that seems to speak to us, that tells us what to create, or guides us along the path to a finished work.

About four years ago, my creative process started to change. I may write about this more later, but the short of it is that I moved to Maine and somehow that shook up my creative side. Through a series of dreams, spiritual episodes, and meeting some key people, my Muse started to "talk" with me.

No, I'm not crazy :-) In modern terms I guess you would say that I began to allow myself to fully listen to my deep, inner well of creative vision.

Or is it that I allowed The Real Creator to speak through me?

Many spiritual leaders have taught that the Source of all deep creativity is The Creator ("God," or however you envision such a being or force). I'm beginning to really feel the truth of this, especially with my latest painting.

In late June, I started to get an internal sense that I needed to do a painting featuring a Jaguar, the four-legged King of the Mesoamerican forests. The ancient Maya kings also aligned themselves closely with the Jaguar, and many kings adopted "jaguar" as part of their kingly name.

I allowed that internal sense to percolate for a while, "thinking" that I would pair the Jaguar with a Mayan sculpture of a Jaguar in the background. But that's not what my Muse wanted me to paint :-)

My mentors and instructors never told me what happens when the Muse takes over...

"She" started waking me up at 3 or 4 AM, urging me to work on the painting. I finally gave in one morning last week and started working through my library of photos of Mayan art and architecture, through books of old archaeological drawings from the first European scientists who studied the ancient Maya, and through sketches of heiroglyphs, names of rulers.

I finally came across the name of a deity and something clicked: the background would be a sculpture of The Night Sun God.

"God of the Night Sun" stage 1, laying it out.

The Muse continues to wake me up early, urging me to continue working on the painting.

"God of the Night Sun" stage 2, blocking in the Jaguar.

"God of the Night Sun" stage 3, day 1 is complete.

At the end of the first full day of painting, I'm mentally worn out and am more than ready to let this dry overnight. 

Continue to Part II...

Content and paintings are copyright Nancy Rynes, 2013. You may link to this page, but please do not copy or in any way use these works without my written consent.

Evolution of a Style III: A New Dose of Inspiration

As an artist, I've come to terms with the fact that my creativity sometimes comes in waves and occasionally needs a jump start.

I have a large one-person show coming up in October and have been painting for it now for a few months. OK, I admit I should probably say "struggling with painting for it" because, at times, being at the easel felt very difficult rather than energizing.

By early June, I knew I needed a new dose of inspiration.

Mesa Verde to the rescue!

I admit to being scared about taking 2 weeks away from the easel just when I was at my busiest, but in the end it I think I'll be more productive for having taken the break.

Of course I came away with a lot of photos that will make their ways into paintings at some point. But I think I came away with something even more intangible: a deeper and clearer sense of history, a sense of the amazing creativity of both the Ancient and modern "Pueblo" peoples, a deeper sense of the connectedness and richness of cultures here in the Americas before Columbus even dreamed of sailing west. I began to deeply appreciate the amazing architects that have lived here on this continent for thousands of years. How difficult it must have been to eke out a living in a changing landscape and climate. 

I hope too that these intangible elements, feelings, somehow make their way into my paintings.

I will say that driving home was both sad and joyful - I always shed tears when I leave the Mesa Verde area, but dozens of ideas for new paintings flooded my brain on the long car trip home.

Newspaper Rock, Utah - Ancient Social Media?

A continuation of my series on ancient rock art sites of North America...

I tend to think of Newspaper Rock, Utah, as the Social Media center of its day. I have no idea if it was, really, but it seems like a possibility. I like to try to envision an ancient ancestor of 1,000 years ago, gazing upon this rock trying to decide what message to leave today.

In a relatively small area of rock are hundreds of pictures pecked into the patinated surface, some perhaps 2,000 years old (or older). Images include animals like bison, antelope, bighorn sheep, canids (dogs, wolves, or coyotes), flying squirrels, deer, elk, lizards, birds, and even horses. Images of people abound, as do abstract symbols that may make no sense to us in the modern day. Footprints of bear, people, children, deer, and birds amble across the surface of the rock as if their maker had just disappeared over the top of the boulder.

The sheer number of images is overwhelming...below are two samples:

As in many other sites, we're not really sure who left us these images, or why. Good bets are Archaic people from 2,000 years ago or more (nomadic hunter-gatherers), and what we now call Ancient Pueblo, "Fremont", modern Pueblo, Anglo, and possibly Ute.

And why this particular rock? Today it's along a pretty busy route near the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park - perhaps this was a pathway frequented by ancient peoples as well. The patination of the surface of this particular rock is also very dark, making it very easy to distinguish images pecked into its surface. And its surface is at present-day ground level - easy to access, either for the artist or viewer. 

Then again, it's very possible that this site  had some sort of spiritual significance to the ancients who first used it to record a message, prayer, or important event. Later generations added to it and this possibly added to the significance of the site too.

Some images seem to record the coming of the invaders on horseback - perhaps Spanish, perhaps Anglo. Others appear to be symbols significant to modern Pueblo peoples: the Snake, concentric circles, heartlines in animals (see above), and handprints.

Whatever the messages or the significance of the site, this is one of my favorite places to visit in Utah. The sense of deep history is just a palpable here as at Mesa Verde or Chaco Canyon. People made these images. People similar to you and me - hardier in some ways, more in tune with Nature, just as intelligent and sensitive and feeling as we are. People wanting to leave a mark or a message or a prayer, or record a story or event. 

We're not so different at our cores, are we?