the blue muse

At our jewelry shows people often trip over our name…Blue Mouse? Blue Moose? Blue Muse, what’s a muse? How do you spell it?

When I arrived at the name (after much trial and error and after choosing several that were already taken) I thought it seemed just right. But I also thought that muse was a commonly used, commonly recognized word. Isn’t it?

Well, whether it is or not, I’ve been thinking: what/who is my muse? Do I have one? If not, do I need to find one? What if I can’t? Can you be an artist without one?

Can you choose your own muse? Doesn’t it have to choose you?

So what or who would I choose to be my muse? There are artists and writers that have inspired me throughout my life: Van Gogh, Hemmingway, O’Keefe, Maugham, Wyeth, Modigliani, Gibran, cummings. And lots of others, lesser known. But is inspiring the same as being a muse?

I love swallows. They are blue. Does that work?

What about the collective muse? The spirits of all those who came before us? Can we tune in to their presence? Should we?

That’s the thing about art. It makes us ask questions.

Sometimes it gives us an answer.

And sometimes the question is all there is.