Musings on Amusing the Muse

Some Failed Experiements from Beyond the BeadAh, Success!

This is another The Impatient Blogger Repost from the four years of posts I took down. Think of these as bloggy archeology. Or Madge is buried in making a new book...six of one...

Musings on Amusing the Muse
By Margot Potter
Copyright 2007

I spent the day yesterday in creative mode. I wish I could live there more often, but there’s the pesky business side of this career and it eats up a huge portion of every day. I love creative mode. It means leaving all preconceptions about what is and isn’t possible behind. It means releasing my need to control the outcome and being willing to make glorious mistakes. It means facing up to the unfortunate and quite likely possibility of what I like to call...Craptastic Crafts Day. This is when you have the opposite of the Midas Touch and everything you touch turns not to gold or to silver...but to crap.

Wait a minute there Madge are you kidding me? What’s up with that? Why do I want to make crap?

Why indeed. Well, let me tell you, the best discoveries almost always without equivocation come from being willing to create without filters. To invite and then proceed to amuse your muse enough that she sticks around requires a leap of faith into the world of pure imagination. Some of the best things you’ll ever come up with will happen because you allowed for the possibilities. It’s true! I swear! Trust me, have I steered you wrong yet?

"There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination. Living there you’ll be free if you truly wish to be.” Willy Wonka

Even if you end up with nothing more than a pile of what appear to be godawful mistakes, somewhere in that pile is a truly golden idea waiting to be discovered. People who refuse to risk making glorious messes rarely make interesting art. Don’t play it safe. Don’t do the same old thing. Dare to be different, Dollface. Inspiration is everywhere, everywhere! It’s in the bottom of your coffee cup, it’s underneath a rock in your backyard, it’s in the drawers filled with bits and baubles you’ve collected along the way and it’s definitely in the imperfections. Rummage, pillage, mix and mingle things that don’t belong together! Ask yourself, is it possible? What happens when I put that on that and then...add this? Will it look like crap or will it be a freaking miracle?!

Screw the rules. Rules are for accountants. You’re an artist. Don’t let anyone tell you anything differently either. You are an artist. Even if your third grade art teacher said you weren’t. What the hell did he know? Those who can...DO! If you have a problem with admitting to yourself that you’re an artist look in the mirror every day for the next week and say, “I am an artist.” Then, make yourself a little badge that announces to the world your new artful status. YAY!

I can guarantee you that your muse doesn’t like rigidity or order. She’s a big fan of chaos. She likes it when you get all goopy and inky and beads and glitter start rolling across the floor. She likes it when you play like you did when you were five before you knew there were rules. She won’t stick around if you make her walk in straight lines. She much prefers the crookedy sort of a pathway all strewn with shouts of joy and occasional juicy expletives followed by amazing discoveries or the making of crap. Don’t be afraid of the making of crap, it’s good. It’s organic and earthy and authentic, it’s creative fertilizer and it makes your art garden grow big fabulous flowers!

xoxo
Madge