Who's The Muse?

I'm back. After about a month of laying around, feeling stuck, walking around in my bathrobe, and [my favorite part] whining and complaining about it, I woke up early this morning and just HAD to get back out here. And now I'm wasting time wondering where "The Muse" went, and why she came back. In that vein:

Today's post is about: Yarn Bombs. They've been called 'knit graffiti'. To me, they're pointless acts of beauty, spontaneous decorations, random creativity. Go ahead: grab some yarn and go splash harmless, non-toxic, removable color -- on ANYTHING:

(image from: rebelyarns)

 (image from: handmadeology)

(image from: onekindword)

I first came across this (apparently) worldwide movement in an incredible facebook album [from Kate Afonina Gallery in Moscow], and after I stopped laughing I wondered: what would possess someone to DO such a thing? What crazy muse must've whacked these people over their heads? And -- where can I get some of that stuff? There I was, rolling around in whiny misery of my own making, looking for something external to pull me out of it, and BAM! These guys were just GUSHING creative juice all over the place, with no apparent "motivation" or financial payoff or ... what?

Even seeing this amazing, pointless burst of creativity wasn't enough for me. No -- for a couple of weeks, I still needed to hang on to my LONNGG list of excuses: it's winter here; I must have S.A.D.; the Love Of My Life is out of town for a month; I need this time to recharge; I'm pre-occupied with money problems; everybody's got the post-holiday blues; it's brain chemistry; it's Winter Solstice - time for seeds to rest and prepare; blah blah friggin' BLAH. All of it's just what a former boss called "intellectual flatulence". I just - had - nothing. All the books I've read about it, all the late-night/early morning talks about it with friends, all the motivation "strategies" I've used before - all worthless. For a month.

And then, at about 4:00 this morning ...

Sitting here in this coffee shop, absolutely rushing to get these thoughts down and put them out there, I have no idea where this stuff comes from, or where it goes. I'm just glad it's back.
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Today's creation is: some wall(paper) images. Sitting in a parking lot waiting to pick up my wife, I was so grabbed by these brick textures that I (finally!) remembered I use my phone/camera as a visual sketch pad:

(photo © me)  

(photo © me)

(photo © me - saturation tweaked in
Adobe® Photoshop® Express for Android)

(photo © me - saturation tweaked in
Adobe® Photoshop® Express for Android)

I did this all on my phone - took the photos, cropped & tweaked them, emailed 'em to myself so I could put them here. These apps are amazing; the power of this one in particular just floors me when I stop to think about it. I don't know where or when I'll use these again (so far, the purple one is wallpaper on my phone), but I often save textures and refer to/use them later - at least, when I'm creatively-awake enough to do it.

Here's hoping.

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