Whatever Feeds the Muse....

I tend to work two ways while painting. The first way, I am totally relaxed and sitting in front of my easel with a blank canvas and streaming a documentary or a television series that I don't have to concentrate too hard on in order to follow. So far I have re-watched the entire original series of Star Trek, I'm halfway through the fourth season of X-files, and have dipped into several other series, jumping around as the mood hits me.

I'm just playing and paint anything that comes out of the end of my brush in a stream of conscious sort of way.

The other method involves more planning. I see something-a piece of rusty metal, a photo, a tree, etc. and I have a germ of an idea. I walk with it, I plan it, I daydream about it. I sketch things, I research, I scribble little notes about it. And then when it all seems to be coming together in my head...I make the playlist. I love making playlists for my projects. They just get you in the mood. I have a playlist for mermaid paintings, for angel paintings. I have ones for specific paintings like "In My Father's House", "Fern Geisha", and "Our Lady of Mass Destruction".

Here's something I'm contemplating for my next project. I'm thinking that it's used as a mask...

Somehow the sadder the music is, the broodier it is-all the better. I don't like to watch sad or traumatic movies or read books like that...but I love a good auditory weep session. Coldplay and Keane are especially muse inducing. What kind of music do you like to listen to while creating?