Do you listen/talk while you paint?

[Chris Saper]

When I paint in open studio, from life, I LOVE to have artist banter. By this, I mean chit-chat, not substantive discussion. When I am alone in my own studio, I want QUIET. People ask me if I play music when I paint, and my respose is "Why bother?" Any sound I generally disregard after about five minutes or so, which is about how long it takes me to devolve, as it were, into the "zone."

The only exception to this is a "thunderstorm" CD I occasionally listen to, (mainly in the summer), where I darken my studio, and pretend that the hellacious, relentless, and dreadfully dry summer heat does not exist. (For those of you who have never spent a summer in Phoenix, we live without Daylight Savings time. The sun begins to rise about 4:30 AM, and at that time the temperature is often already 90 degrees. By 4:00 PM it's generally about 109 degrees, and not a cloud in the sky. At midnight, we have relief, down to about 90 degrees.)

Quiet is definitely my preferred way of life.