Bookbinding and being creative - June 28, 2008

I have been taking a fabulous class on Monday nights called Artist's Books, which is a great mix of bookbinding techniques and artist book techniques. I have been having an absolute ball. I have been both drawing and making books and photo albums for quite a while now, so this class feels perfectly catered to me! I am learning some great new things and my creative juices are quite literally overflowing - which I just love! I feel that one of the most frustrating things for me as a musician is that I am on a 'high' musically for a while and everything is going full-speed and then I hit a wall, and I lose the inspiration. I don't know where it goes, but I am always left feeling like I am maybe being lazy that I should force myself to get in there and write and practice and KEEP GOING! But I have come to realise that I just don't work that way. I really need those peaks and valleys - it's almost like a rest at the top of the mountain. Still, I am always sad at the times the musical well has 'dried up', so to speak. And then I start drawing more. And making things. And then I get inspired by those things which I just love doing, that I give no credit to as a talent, I just do them because I love to. And so the inspiration does actually keep going around in a circle - to use the mountain analogy again - the stopping is actually taking in a magnificent view! I've been thinking a lot about this lately, and have wondered about making a (very) limited edition of hand-bound, hand-drawn books that will come with Musings of a Telescopic Tree when it comes out. I think it is high time that these inspirations that help me through the dry spells got a little credit.... don't you?