Elusive Muse

Inspiration.

It's a problem for me in more ways that one.  For instance, I'm running out of ideas for topics on this blog, lol.  If you have any ideas on topics you'd like to see, I'd love to hear them.

But my primary issue is a lack of inspiration in regards to content within my paintings.  I spoke about this some a few weeks ago.  I recently wasted a week or so staring at a piece I'm working on, trying to figure out where I want to go with it.  I've had a few ideas, tried them, erased them.  And so it still currently sits in the same half-finished state it did two weeks ago. (Gold/Yellow and Blue Gray painting with figure)

To get myself moving forward again, I took a couple of canvases that I'd started previously and abandoned, and just started putting down color to cover what was there previously, with the intention of using this color as background for a new painting.  Both turned out well.  They should make an interesting base for a new painting.  That is, if I could figure out what to put on them,.lol.

The proverbial muse eludes me.  I envy those artists that have such clarity of purpose.  I've heard a fair amount of advice on the subject of inspiration.  But, my thought process and interests seem to differ from that of the typical artist, to an extent that renders said advice no more than anecdotal at this point.  I have heard a couple of artists speak of a method they use that involves letting the painting build itself, escape from within them; that they don't know what's going to happen when they begin.  It was something they had to learn to do.  It's a concept that really appeals to me, but I don't know how to make that happen.

All I have here are questions and problems, no solutions, unfortunately.

Color quality/saturation is very poor in these camera phone pics, but they at least give the general idea.