So, Raymond Carver’s line from a poem and the title of one of his books came to me this morning – a new path to the waterfall – in the company of today’s bit of jazz advice.  I subscribe to the jazz advice because I know that creativity overlaps one discipline with another and the jazz advice almost always gets my painting juices flowing.  Today was no exception.

“Many musicians share a frustration and for many it goes right back to the standard approach to improvisation that you find in most books. The mentality that each chord has a designated scale:

• Major scales for major chords
• Dorian for minor chords
• Mixolydian for V7 chords

“This is a fine place to start, but if you limit your harmonic and melodic approach to these 3 scales you’ll end up feeling trapped inside of a musical box.”

The advice for musicians was about a lot of things I don’t understand as an aficionado (myxolydian scale?), but I do understand that quote as an artist.  I don’t want to feel trapped inside an abstract box!  My work with jazz paintings is far from finished. I still have things to learn about the paint, the tools, the light, the way I can play the same note in a series of paintings but differently each time.  Bring it on!

The map of my cartographer’s heart feels exactly right for this next part of the journey.  I will happily return to the studio on Monday with new eyes and new choices to make.  I don’t expect to find a waterfall, but the new path will take me to the fresh start I need.