Synesthesia and artists

Water series Image 3
Stage 3
(Today I started working on the face and
hair. I started work on the sky, and
fleshed in the beach, although it will
probably change colour somewhat.
It was a good day.)

I was in a kind of tidy-it-up mood this morning. These
hit so rarely that I was planning to put one of my
journals away. Or maybe I intended to file it. No
matter. (I teach journal writing in another life --
connecting creating art to journal writing) -- aha!
So this blogging business makes sense now doesn't
it.

Well in my journal (Come on I had to read it to
decide what year to put on the label didn't I?)
I mentioned Diane Ackerman, whose books I was
reading at the time (four years ago). My journal
said that Ackerman in An Alchemy of Mind said
that artists have different brains from regular people.
Although everyone is creative artists of every kind --
writers, musicians, and painters are synethists. They
see more intensely, hear more intensely and feel more
intensely. And she may be right.

Just as I started this whole ocean series a friend
started talking to me about Laguna Beach in
California. He had lived there for a short,
magical time, and holds the memories in his
head as almost sacred. I visited the beach in
2007 and absolutely loved "The Light!" we
both said at the same time.

What I couldn't explain quite as well, is that
for artists light as dazzling, as astounding, as
moving and as overwhelming is everywhere.
Better by water, or by the ocean -- more dazzling,
more moody, more infinite. But it's everywhere,
and we are hypnotized by it.

Ackerman according to my journal went on to
say that artists must create, and we are
vulnerable to depression when we can't.
So for this artist it was a good day today. I did
put the journal away, clean out the cutlery drawer,
polish the stainless steel fridge, dishwasher and stove,
clean the bathroom mirrors, have a go at the doors
and drawer fronts in the kitchen, and painted.

I have moved on a bit with Water series Image 3,
and realize in the scheme of things the names will
probably change. But for now, she's coming along
and she's very happy about it.