Wednesday, January 16, 2013  The Artist - The Muse  Ah, the
artist and his Muse. We have the Greeks to thank for the idea of
the Muse.  They were thought to be goddesses (there were
apparently 9 of them) of inspiration to the various arts.  The
word "Muse" is the source word for "music", and was associated
with the arts to such a degree that the word actually meant
"art".  You can check out Wikipedia for more information.
Inspiration is important to artists.  It is as if each artist
has a guiding star that leads him or her in a particular
direction...that quietly coaches them to pay attention to some
aspect of the world while ignoring others.  In a very real
sense, artists "see" the world through our Muse.  It doesn't
seem to be a conscious choice on the artists part as to what
they see in the world.  There is a feeling of being led to it by
some invisible hand.  We only know we are there when we
arrive...led by our silent Muse.  And she's a bitch.  I say that
because, while she will definitely lead, she wil