Solitude

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

An Artist in His Studio 1904 John Singer Sargent

“What a thing it is to sit absolutely alone
in the forest, at night, cherished by this
wonderful, unintelligible,
perfectly innocent speech,
the most comforting speech in the world,
the talk that rain makes by itself all over the ridges,
and the talk of the watercourses everywhere in the hollows!
Nobody started it, nobody is going to stop it.
It will talk as long as it wants, this rain
As long as it talks I am going to listen.” - Thomas Merton

True solitude can be hard to find in this noisy, hyper-connected world of ours. Artists often seek it out in order to get in touch with their innermost thoughts and feelings. We find that a certain amount of solitude is necessary for helping our minds to quiet and our creativity to bloom. Solitude also facilitates focus when we put brush to canvas. But solitude is not an easy state for everyone. Being alone with our thoughts can be daunting - even a bit scary at times. The mind contin…