Day 6 of Year 2
This week has been incredibly busy, very little empty time. It's so hard to work without that silence in my life. Next week I am going to slow things down, without that space its really hard for the creative flow to get in. I have the feeling that I haven't fully honored my sacred contract to work this week. It's not just about being in the studio, it's also about caring for yourself so when you work you are present and ready. I know it's not my job to judge my own work, but I feel this week's prints reflect the lack of space.
I didn't start this monotype until about midnight so there's no time to rework it. I really love the concept, but I haven't hit it yet. There's a feeling I get when an image a right that I don't have. I'm not a huge fan of this flesh tone either. I almost never use it. I think I will try a different approach tomorrow. This print is much bigger than most of my others. I included a pencil for scale.
Praise Them
by Li-Young Lee
The birds don’t alter space.
They reveal it. The sky
never fills with any
leftover flying. They leave
nothing to trace. It is our own
astonishment collects
in chill air. Be glad.
They equal their due
moment never begging,
and enter ours
without parting day. See
how three birds in a winter tree
make the tree barer.
Two fly away, and new rooms
open in December.
Give up what you guessed
about a whirring heart, the little
beaks and claws, their constant hunger.
We’re the nervous ones.
If even one of our violent number
could be gentle
long enough that one of them
found it safe inside
our finally untroubled and untroubling gaze,
who wouldn’t hear
what singing completes us?
xoxo