This post is part of my series, Courting the Muse. Subscribers to my email list receive a weekly prompt focusing on one aspect of creativity.

This week’s prompt: Say it with two colors

Part 1: Get Shit Done

The coffee cup–MY COFFEE CUP, my-don’t-anyone-else-TOUCH-this-coffee-cup— says Get Shit Done but how can I? The internet’s down and I’m in a panic!

Oh Noooooo Mr Bill! There’s wheels to spin, rabbit holes to go down, shit to get done and here I sit STUCK IN THE LAND OF REAL TIME!!!

Using more exclamation points than a seventh grader embellishing her crush in a diary!!!

Of course I could paint. Should paint. But I don’t wanna. Not feelin’ the muse today. So I do what I always do when I want to avoid doing other things, AHEM, I mean clear my head–I take Maggie for a walk.

We could end up in China. Hint: we don’t.

We head out the door, cut across a neighbor’s meadow, trespass on a private road and then again onto another private road that could take us all the way down to the river if we were so inclined. And I do mean inclined, it get’s pretty steep. If we followed the river we’d end up merging with other rivers until eventually ending up in the Pacific Ocean. Depending on the current, we could end up in China.

But we don’t go that far. It’s overcast, the light is crap. There’s nothing worth photographing. Like I said, I’m just not feelin’ the muse today. We just go to Big Hairy Rock before heading back.

When we get home the internet Is STILL NOT WORKING. (Insert angry face emoji here)

I suppose I could paint something but the muse took the day off and I’m just NOT IN THE MOOD. FitBit reads my mind, saves the day and buzzes my wrist telling me I’m not done walking yet. Congratulations! You’re almost there. Only 350,000 more steps to reach your goal. Or something like that.

So Maggie and I head out again, this time to the mailbox. Toss another half mile total to the step gods and see if that’ll get them off my back.

Part 2: Inspiration Strikes

We’re almost to the end of the lane when I spy with my little eye something yellow. There’s a big honkin’ patch of daffodils growing in my neighbor’s yard-

And just like that the day turns around and all is suddenly right in my world.

I loves me some daffys! They pop out just when I’m getting sick of winter, reminding me spring will happen one of these days.

Apparently Muse loves them too because all of a sudden she shows up to work wearing her bossy pants.

Muse: Take a photo

Me: But the light’s crap, the background sucks and I don’t paint flowers.

Muse: But the color–

Me: Ahhhhhh…

I snap a pic, go home and sit with the image for awhile. I see the painting as a big patch of yellow surrounded by green. Not a color field like Rothko, something with a more active voice.

When I actually begin to paint I use blue for the background, not green, because it’s my painting, my choice. And blue goes super good with yellow. If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ll recognize it as one of my favorite color combos.

I have no agenda when painting this, just the rhythm of layers, the push and pull of manipulating paint and mark making. I have no preconceived idea of anything other than making art.

“Making a mess!” as one of my students says.

So I happily ‘make a mess’ with colors that make my heart sing with no intentions beyond that. But then politics happened this week, even worse than usual. Ugliness happened. And just like that, the day turned around and all was NOT right in the world.

What began as an exercise into paint and color became a statement.

Slava Ukrain!

Acrylic on paper 8×11, Susan Lobb Porter

Until next week-