Monday's Muse, by Jo-Ann Sanborn ©2010

Acrylic on Canvas, 20x24

Artist's often search for their particular muse. The word muse comes from Greek Mythology, when certain goddesses, spirits or real people were thought to inspire excellence in music, literature, and song. According to Varro, a Roman Scholar, there are only three. Once borne from the sound of the movement of water, one from the sound of striking the air, and the third by the sound of the human voice.

By classical times there were nine, who embody the arts and inspire creation with the graces of song and stage, tragedy and comedy, music and dance, poetry, history and astronomy. Most people could recognize the muses by the symbols they carried. Calliope, who's domain was epic poetry, for example, carried a tablet, and Euterpe, symbolizing music, carried an aulos.

There's very little in ancient times about a muse for the visual artist, but it is thought that by embodying the attributes of the muses, the artist will benefit and prosper. My muse is the Everglades, a constant source of inspiration with many moods and faces. Sometimes he's in close attendance, and other times very hard to find.

If you'd like to see Greek pottery including the muses, visit the blog of Stapleton Kearns. He's done several posts on Greek Art that are perfect for a mini-lesson.

Waugh, Kearns, and some other seascape artists

One of the artists that I admire is Frederick Waugh. I saw one of his large seascapes in a gallery in Stonington, Ct. years ago and was positively awed by it's beauty. One of the blog artists that I follow regularly is Stapleton Kearns, who writes a blog about all things arty with joy and wit and humor.

The two came together recently in a series of posts by Stapleton to educate his followers on the painting of seascapes, starting with the anatomy of a wave. It's a wonderful, classic series, worth reading if you want to paint seascapes, improve your seascapes, think you might someday live by the sea, or just want to enjoy a great learning experience. The series starts here with a gorgeous Waugh and can be followed by clicking "newer posts" at the end.

I grew up in Gloucester, MA, spent many hours playing on the rocks by the sea as a child and many more in contemplation as a moody teenager. Stapleton Kearns took and posted the photo I worked from for today's daily painting, and I offer it here with deepest apologies to both Stapleton and Waugh. The light, the drama, the form, the movement and the depth will take more than one daily painting to achieve!

Even though the Everglades are my primary subject an artist should never stop learning. I've purchased books on painting seascapes by John Robinson and Roger Curtis as suggested by Stapleton. And yes, I'll read them right after Edgar Payne's Composition of Outdoor Painting that's on my bedside table right now.