For some creative people – me, I think – inspiration comes most from the outside. For an artist like Maria, it comes from the inside, deep inside of her subconscious. When I sit down to write, I usually know what I am going to write about, if not exactly what to say. I am  affected by what i see, by what people say to me, by what the dogs and animals so, sometimes by the news.

Maria has no idea what she is going to create when she goes into her studio on some days, she can’t explain it, doesn’t talk about it, her conscious self doesn’t really even know. Her work is an assortment of dreams, memories, fears, passions, feelings, and they all come in her quite individualistic work. Maria is not like anyone else, she is herself.

Yesterday, I went into her studio and saw this quite surprising new creation, she told me she had no idea what it was, and said I should stop asking her about it, she didn’t have any answers.

It struck me as a staff, something a Roman general might be carrying when he marched into Rome, or something more spiritual, a kind of goddess or mystical image. Today, on her blog, Maria called it a “Dream  Scepter,” the first time I heard or saw her put a name on it.

And several people have already inquired about buying it. (I don’t know if it is for sale or not.) Maria has this idea that people will make up their own minds about what it is and what it means, she doesn’t tell people what to think, an ideal with both share. I know it is not like anything I have seen her do.

Maria and I are close, obviously, but we have very separate spheres. Mine is my writing, hers is her art. I think she is closer to my writing than I am to her art, mostly because I like to show her what I am writing often, and I value her opinion about it. She never tries to edit me, but she will tell me if something touches her, and that is valuable to me. She has good instincts.

I have nothing to say about her art as she prepares it, I have no expertise, and I am not invited. That is a good and healthy thing, because people who are close need to be especially careful about boundaries. It is easy to get identities mixed up.

Maria never gives me ideas about my writing, and I never make suggestions to her about her art. This work really surprised me, and I just didn’t know what to make it it. This morning, I was carrying it around the farm like a flag, it has a lot of mojo. Your idea is as good as mine. I hope she decides to keep it, I think it would be happy in a corner of the living room, or next to my muse in my study.