Slump vs. Silhouette

(studio shot of some new silhouettes I'm working on)  

I'm not sure if they will be incorporated fully into my Landscape of Enough, but they were inspired by the shadows that the sculpture creates.  Here's another example:

I was feeling a bit lonely in my studio yesterday (feeling like "why am I here? does anyone care if I'm here or not?") Of course the answer to the second question is yes and no.  A lot of people don't care about art (or don't think they care) but I think if people really think about it, we all need art in order to witness the truth that there is magic in the world; that we can transcend our everyday lives and connect to other people.  We are each alone at a very basic level and we can only share so much of ourselves with others.  Art is one way for us to touch others in their own isolation as our magic/creativity speaks to the vast parts of their souls that our minds and bodies cannot touch.

The answer to the first question is that I have to make art.  If I don't get in my studio, the world slowly loses its sparkle for me.  I stop seeing everything as infinite possibilities and start seeing it as overwhelming/boring/separate from me.  I start to look at other artists as if their work is a product and feel like if only I could make that/draw like that/think those thoughts/have a website like that/have funding like that/etc., my work would be valid.  

The truth is, all I had to do was get back in my "studio" and do something fun and quick, just so I could witness my own magic and my own way of seeing the world.  We each have our own way of seeing the world and the only way for us to know that is to make something and witness what he have seen.  I can't make work like anyone else because I don't see the world the same as other people.  If my work is like another person's work, I think that's evidence of a collective conscience.  

The other truth to the first question is that I needed to get into my slump in order to appreciate what my real work is.  I'm not fully out of my slump yet, but I think I'm on the upswing and I'm enjoying the kind of vulnerable ache that seems to come with losing my bearings.

So anyway, I think I might have packed my mental suitcases before I'm really supposed to pack my real ones.  I have about a month left here in Japan after all, and that's plenty of time to make some sweet art magic.  I sat by the pond yesterday and did some landscape sketching (the first of my magic I've seen for days).
It probably doesn't look like much to someone else, but that's the point.  It's my own evidence and support for what I see.  It's one function of a sketchbook and a place to start to make "finished" projects.

I made this landscape collage this morning. 

So anyway, in my pre-landscape-drawing slump, yesterday, I was NEEDING any reinforcement that I am a valid artist (lame but true).  I did the nerdy thing of Googling my name and guess what I found!  An awesome blog written by an adjunct professor at Tyler School of Art in Philly named Loraine Glessner.  She wrote a blog post about me last December!  Her blog is really cool (not just because she wrote about me) because she posts about awesome artists (I just checked in today and her most recent post is about Charles Burwell, who makes stunning painting) and she posts studio tips on Mondays.  What a great idea!  Studio tips are like life-savers when all we need to do is just get back into our studio but we don't know how.

So I'm on an upswing.  Studio tips to come, I think.