An Artist Needs Pupae

Dali said that an artist needs pupils, but I add that an artist also needs pupae too, a place from which to emerge different than before. If I am to succeed then new stops must be produced to be pulled out and I need to start to consider my public image, even before I have a public. Thus my cocoon arrives. Today, it seems that my ten planned paintings for 2007 will be too few, a good sign, and my drawing of today was beautifully easy too. Drawing is normally a thankless and unenjoyable task, an exercise in disappointment and error for what hand drawing is a perfect copy? Even Raphael drew badly sometimes, the evidence is in the flaws in some of his paintings (errors detectable only by logic because the results remain beautiful, there is a magic there that makes flaws look normal). Every error in drawing is a tiny crystal needle stabbing in the skin, but every so often good results flow from the hand and cause pleasant sensations, marred only by the fear of losing this skill, this fleeting perfection. Next week I'm back to music and with luck Steven can manage enough recording sessions to complete the two albums of songs that I've been hoping to make for a long time. Too long have my songs been heard by only me, and even then in my mind.