How Does Inspiration Come?

Here's another report on "7 Days: Artists View the Creation," 

On the fourth day God said, Let there be lights in the sky to separate the day from the night and to mark seasons and days and years.  He called the great light the sun and the lesser light the Moon. 

  When the Sun Was Born by Karen Fitzgerald

 Oil paint, copper gilding on patterned, prepared paper, framed.

What did the sun look like when it was born?

Its birth no doubt took longer than a few days. Our fiery life-giver may have begun its life in dimness. Whatever the soup of energy that formed our glowing, burning orb, its presence blesses our days. What does your imagination tell you about when the sun was born?

Made with thinned oil paint on a copper-gilded tondo. The patterned paper was sealed before and after the gilding. The work is framed under glass with an archival mat. Details of the frame are included here.

 

The Moon by Rob Swanson

  

Although newspaper photographers have to shoot lots of news and assignments of all kinds, they’re also expected to produce “standalone art” or photos that can run without a story. The Sun and Moon are often rich subjects for standalone photos-they resonate with meaning for all of us. 

  This is actually an unusual Moon photo for me, as I usually try to juxtapose the orb with a bird or steeple or aircraft. 

  But the Moon is always beautiful, no matter how you see her.

 

I don't have work in the show--I was busy enough putting it together. Since it's up I've gotten back to the drawing table.

I showed you this last week; I've made some progress but there's a long way to go. I'm still not sure what the overall color story will be and I'm working very timidly but I'll get there.

Here's the daily inspirational message on the board at our Y;

Fight for the things you care about but do it in a way that will lead others to join you. 

Can you guess who said that?

Here's something I should have added to last week's post about people on the street, but I forgot: A conversation in the etching studio at the Art Students League many years ago. One woman said, 

"Last night I couldn't sleep and I got up and  looked out the window at the church across the street. I saw a woman sleeping in the doorway and I thought, well, at least I'm not her. "

And the other woman said, "Yes, but she was sleeping."