The Act of Musing

I had to scold myself recently when I commented on a Facebook post calling myself an ‘arty-farty air head’. Who needs enemies when I’m prepared to refer to myself in such an unflattering way. This comment got me to thinking, and the more I thought, the more I thought, that I actually spent an awful lot of time in the act of thinking.

Please stay with me here.

This line of thought reminded me of a rather lovely trip to the cinema to see ‘Bright Star’ - (Jane Campion’s movie about the poet John Keats). At one point in the plot, Keat’s friend Charles Brown discusses the essential role in an artist’s life of the 'act of musing'.

Now I’m working from memory here (as it’s a few months since I saw the film) but I remember being very impressed at the idea of lying on ones back in the garden, contemplating the next line of poetry, as Keats and Brown would often do.

You see, I’m a mum and my life has never extended to the luxury of such musing and so out of necessity, I sneak it in wherever I can, like when ironing, grocery shopping or cooking dinner (an activity that I have now been officially sacked from, it proved to be too great a fire hazard). My husband is the head chef now.

My children have been noted as saying things like “Mummy is your head in a painting again?” or “Just never mind, it’s not that important,” (usually from a teenager), whoops I must have been musing again!

‘Musing’ may be why artists gained the title of ‘air-heads’ which is most unfair because there is anything but AIR in our heads, instead there is; colour schemes, designs, layouts, choreography, subject matter, poetry, notations, lyrics, stage sets and so on.

Artists work incredibly hard, musing is exhausting. So next time you see an artist contemplating, don’t just assume they’re on ‘down-time’! No-way that’s highly productive and very necessary.

Do not disturb!