My Muse

I really believe in the special powers of a Muse. As far as we have been told, the idea of a muse started in Classical European Mythology. In Greek and Roman Mythology each of the nine goddesses, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, over the arts and sciences. It is hard for me to believe that African people (the oldest people on the planet) never thought of or had the notion of a power that governed the creative acts first. 

I liked this definition better: a person or personified force who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist. This must be what the Yoruba people call Osun. A personified force! That is what African stories are full of the personification of inanimate objects. We often find many ideas that the Classical Europeans came up with were really appropriated from African cultures and I strongly believe that this is one of those borrowed ideas.

If there are numerous paintings and drawings of Olga, who served as Picasso's muse for many years, then we must have had our own muses that survived in pictures somewhere, but history has failed to say so.

So, with all that said, I want to introduce my new series that I simply call "Muses". I  have O.V. Brantley to thank for the idea. The Atlanta Quilt Festival is celebrating 10 years of beautiful quilts and workshops. We were all asked to create a 10"x10" work of art to commemorate the milestone. I mumbled to myself and contested to O.V. I never thought I would work so small, but I tried it and liked it. 

I decided on several kinds of muses. Some of them are taken from the ideas in the book - "The Women Who Fly", while others were taken from the long haired ladies of the  book - "Scrap Easy." They are all feisty with a lot of energy to give. Each little quilt has it's own detailed applique, special embellishment and it's own personality.

 No two are identical, because they are meticulously hand crafted in order to be the source of inspiration for all your endeavors.Let me know the one that you want at alumumba@obaquilts.com

Inspiration 3

Just the other day someone asked me, "where do you get your inspiration?" I started to think about it and all the things I had already written in this blog came to mind. One main thing still stands-- I give myself permission to use all the pictures that are in my memory. Lately my thoughts have been on women. With the new "Me Too Movement" and "Times Up Movement" upon us- I have been even more aware of the need to uplift women.

So I look at all kinds of still pictures of women. I watch women doing all kinds of things. I watch women when they are doing nothing at all. I watch women taking care of the kids, riding the bus, driving the car, cooking the food. I watch them wear black hair- red hair- gold hair- gray hair. I watch them work. I watch them take a quick break. I watch them laugh, I watch them cry, I watch them walk, I watch them stand in flat shoes-in high heels- open toed shoes- open heeled shoes- tennis shoes or slippers. I watch them sitting and waiting. I watch women touch their cheek when they are surprised or cover their mouths for a big full laugh. I watch women slip in and out of a coat, a sweater, a shawl or jacket. I watch them rejoice and lament.

Most of all I watch women step in a big mess and then work their way through it all. Sometimes they step out of it so gracefully that you didn't even realize that there was a mess. I am watching for the Good (God) in them. When I see it, I catalog that in my memory. I go to my little work station and try to emulate what I have seen. I try to show that sparkle in the eyes or that flash of light from the grin or the softness in her curves. I try to show hardness made gentle and vice versa.

"Where do you find your images?" I see images everywhere. I love looking at clouds and trying to figure out if it is the shape of something I recognize. I guess I started with this game of "find an image in the clouds" when I was a very young girl. On any lazy day in the country, my sister and I laid in the grass and watched the clouds change shape. The thrill of it all was to finally see an elephant or a man riding a horse or a baby girl sitting on the edge of the cloud.

Sometimes I see that flash of goodness in an instant and then it fades away. I rewind that image in my mind so I can show that flash of goodness that may have been buried by the years of torment and pain, of hard work and struggle, of giving and then giving some more, of being short changed, of being cheated, of being ripped off, of being abused, of being swindled and of being imposed on.

That flash shows up while standing waist high in a field of cotton and still able to look up and see the glory of the sunset. I know it sounds like a bunch of looking and watching but it's true. And the good news is that I see the goodness (Godness) everywhere. That is where I get my inspiration and images from.