Gustav Klimt- Farm Garden with Crucifix
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Even when I am being idle, I have plenty of food for thought, both early and late – thoughts both about and not about art.
–Gustav Klimt
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I am in the midst of a slightly lazy period, as far as my work is concerned. I am not spending as much time in front of an easel or at my big painting table as I would like. Not getting much done at all which eats at the part of me that worries about productivity, that part that knows there are only so many days and hours remaining in my creative life so to waste even one day or a handful of hours means they are lost forever.
But the idle part of me doesn’t care about that. It wants to focus on other things for a bit. Wants to watch the news on the tv too often. Wants to read history or revisit artist books that have been unopened for too long. Strum the guitar. Want to stare out the window and pet my Hobie cat.
It all seems like simple laziness from a distance, even to myself, the lazy one in this picture. But I know from experience that it’s a necessary idleness, a time to recharge my creative batteries, to explore new (and misplaced older) ideas and form new tracks of thought.
And, like Klimt points out, not all these thoughts are concerning art. But because they become part of who one is, these thoughts eventually do show up in the art in some way. Art is a product of the mind so any changes to how the artist perceives their world changes their art.
Oh, man, I am wiped out after writing that. I have to go now because there are things to not get done. Have yourself a lazy day, folks.
Gustav Klimt- Church in Cassone
Redtree Times 