Step Away from the Coffe Pot!

I confess that I slide out of bed every morning like the next girl and hightail it over to my coffee pot. I need that jolt to get me to the studio and give me the necessary creative focus for whatever projects I have in the works.

Every once in a while though, I find myself a little too focused on finishing one of those projects, a little too intent on filling in that row of storefronts in a cityscape. The concentration is there. I am a frackin machine! And maybe that's the problem.

This New Yorker article claims that all that caffeine could be killing my (and your) creativity. In the words of the author, "we do know that much of what we associate with creativity—whether writing a sonnet or a mathematical proof—has to do with the ability to link ideas, entities, and concepts in novel ways. This ability depends in part on the very thing that caffeine seeks to prevent: a wandering, unfocussed mind."

So I am interested, Friends: Do you do your best creative work with a cuppa joe in your system?  Or do you find that caffeine gives you a type of intensity that keeps you too busy to create?

Can I get an Amen?

BEFORE:

I am not often hired to created a religious-themed work, but these past few months, I have been commissioned to paint several. Can we just be honest here? The religious art sold in many of the christian/catholic shops around DC can be pretty terrible. These are not the worst ones out there by a long shot, and it is possible to look past a superficial image to the content behind it. That said, I weep a little bit each time I see a stale religious image hung in a place of honor. (Tad dramatic, but true ;) So, despite the intensity required to work on such a weighty subject, I was super excited to be commissioned to make these little paintings: 

AFTER:

*P.S.-- I showed my sister the Sacred Heart painting after it was finished, because I was wondering if I had made Jesus a little too good-looking. Her response? "Well, He is supposed to be the ideal man!" :)

Keith Cook posing with his portrait at the Corcoran Community Gallery at the THEARC in Washington DC. The portrait was painted as a part of my AS IS series during my time collaborating with Habitat for Artists. The painting is featured on the Hudson Valley Seed Library's Genovese Basil art pack.

I was very sorry not to be able to make the show! Working on this series was one of the most amazing experiences that I have ever had, and the man featured in this portrait just glows with wisdom and goodness!