Voices in an Artist's Head

Book excerpt: One of the key people who influenced me throughout my career was the German poet Rainer Marie Rilke, who wrote, "One ought to wait and gather sense and sweetness a whole life long, and a long life if possible, and then, quite at the end, one might perhaps be able to write ten lines that were good." When I started this project, it was not about writing a book but to simply deal with my thoughts about my experiences as an artist. These were the voices that I heard, especially when I was working independently in my studio. This book documents how I register moments and insights, betray my sensibilities, give consideration to elements of my muse as I'm grappling with various inspirational problems. As I witnessed some of these thoughts emerge, evolve, and unfold on paper, I felt this urge to know how others would react to my disclosures. I have tried to avoid preaching but instead to simply emphasis how important it is that artists need to deal with these emotions, not ignore them, in order to carry out their deep-seated need to create. In documenting and sharing my personal reflections and experiences and explaining my methods, my aesthetic and theoretical concepts as an artist, and my passion for the work, may this benefits others by reading this and hopefully give justification that they are on the right track.