Nebula: The Muse Part 1

Homelight. Nebula. 2019.

“I am my own muse. I am the subject I know best. The subject I want to know better.”  ― Frida Kahlo



“The golden anchor beckons, the blue sail rises
Like the wing of a dream unfolding to a new day.
Let us depart, my muse!
Beyond an anxious prow, the sea stretches itself out…” ― Delmira Agustini

My first encounter with muses was in Mrs. Bloomer’s eighth grade English reading Homer's Iliad and the Odyssey. The muses, were the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. I believe Mrs. Bloomer’s discussion centered on the gifts these nine women brought to humankind: the humanities and astronomy.

Literature, science, and art classes I took, explained that each of us had a muse. The inner muse was described as the spark of inspiration that gives writers, inventors, artists, and me the idea. This spark was the creative impulse that drove one to bring an idea into existence. Teachers, professors, and family members assured me I had it. Everyone had a muse. Inspired by the joy of creating; I would paint and write and crunch numbers and garden and knit. However, more often than not, I would receive less than an A or someone would scrunch their face and tilt their head to the side and tell me “perhaps my gifts was in another field” or maybe I needed to get in better touch with my muse by listening harder. Similar to Shakespeare, I thought my muse was dried up or she was partying somewhere out of my reach.

~~~

Sonnet C (1609)
William Shakespeare

Where art thou Muse that thou forget'st so long,
To speak of that which gives thee all thy might?
Spend'st thou thy fury on some worthless song,
Darkening thy power to lend base subjects light?
Return forgetful Muse, and straight redeem,
In gentle numbers time so idly spent;
Sing to the ear that doth thy lays esteem
And gives thy pen both skill and argument.
Rise, resty Muse, my love's sweet face survey,
If Time have any wrinkle graven there;
If any, be a satire to decay,
And make Time's spoils despised every where.
Give my love fame faster than Time wastes life,
So thou prevent'st his scythe and crooked knife.

~~~

Since the beginning of April, I’ve been working on a painting entitled: Nebula. The theme of this painting module was to focus on being in contact with my inner muse. Truthfully, my inner muse has been out partying. The last time I saw her was in the opening dance scene for the movie La La Land singing “Another Day of Sun” on top of a car roof. She recently sent me a postcard from Lucca, Italy with a recipe for homemade tomato sauce and inquired about the status of my inner critic.

Life has been serious. The subject matter of my work is serious. My inner critic somehow managed to acquire super powers that sucks the joy out of everything. This inner voice has turned against me and nitpicks everything I seem to do. It echos people critical of my work from back in school. I can’t blame my muse for taking off. My critic doesn’t believe in howling at the moon, “what will people think?”

What will people think indeed.

I found this module a creative means to invite the muse back into my life. 

La La Land Cast. "Another Day of Sun."  La La Land (Original Motion Picture Sound Cast), Interscope Records, 2016.

Reference:
Homer. Illiad. Translated Samuel Butler, 800 BCE, retrieved 7 May, 2019 http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html
Homer. Odyssey, Translated Samuel Butler, 800 BCE, retrieved 7 May, 2019 http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html
La La Land Cast. "Another Day of Sun." La La Land (Original Motion Picture Sound Cast), Interscope Records, 2016. retrieved 7 May, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CVfTd-_qbc
Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet C.” 1609 retrieved 7 May 2019. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/Poetry/sonnet.C.html