Day 162 of year 3 (Day 894)
7 days of this project to go. Yesterday I got in my head a bit so today I tried to stop grasping an allow more space. I'm just going to breathe and let this image be.
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For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.
egg head, Monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald
Day 83 of year 3
Feeling a little off my game tonight. It's ok, tomorrow is another day.
For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.
You can purchase this monotype here.
Day 71 of year 3
Day 62 of year 3
This is the ghost print from last night's plate with another layer on top. I've used tonight's poem by Rilke before but from a different translator who gives it a slightly different flavor. I so wish I could read it in the original German!
Sonnets to Orpheus II, XII By Rilke, Trans. Barrows and Macey
Want the change. Be inspired by the flame
where everything shines as it disappears.
The artist, when sketching, loves nothing so much
as the curve of the body as it turns away.
What locks itself in sameness has congealed.
Is it safer to be gray and numb?
What turns hard becomes rigid
and is easily shattered.
Pour yourself out like a fountain.
Flow into the knowledge that what you are seeking
finishes often at the start, and, with ending, begins.
Every happiness is the child of a separation
it did not think it could survive. And Daphne, becoming a laurel,
dares you to become the wind.
From In Praise of Mortality https://amzn.to/33tnNiq
For more information on purchasing this monotype click here or see “Buy Art” in the menu above.
Day 61 of year 3
This is a black ink print over an older color print. It's challenging to get the right color on darker prints when editing photo but this is pretty close. I like the mystery of it. It very much captures how I'm feeling right now. There are certain poems that call you back over and over. Tonight's poem by Lynn Ungar is one. If you haven't read her work, a link to her book is at the bottom and she publishes new poems on Facebook regularly.
Salvation
By Lynn Ungar
By what are you saved? And how?
Saved like a bit of string,
tucked away in a drawer?
Saved like a child rushed from
a burning building, already
singed and coughing smoke?
Or are you salvaged
like a car part — the one good door
when the rest is wrecked?
Do you believe me when I say
you are neither salvaged nor saved,
but salved, anointed by gentle hands
where you are most tender?
Haven’t you seen
the way snow curls down
like a fresh sheet, how it
covers everything,
makes everything
beautiful, without exception?
From Bread and Other Miracles https://amzn.to/3bUHvYA
For more information on purchasing this monotype click here or see “Buy Art” in the menu above.
Day 35 of year 3
This monotype is several days of ghosts printed on top of each other and a final layer made tonight. The photo doesn't capture all the subtlety, but gives you an idea. I love working with ghost prints because artist materials and ink in particular have purpose and desires of their own. A ghost print is one step removed from the hand of the artist and it allows the ink to express its own unique vision. The ghost is always a revelation and the ink usually behaves in unexpected ways.
The relationship between an artist and their materials is central to most art practices and similar to any relationship an artist might have with a person. It's taught me to listen, to curtail my desire to control, to support and respect another's vision, and to lay down my own ego. In general, artists have a deep, almost mystical, connection to the material world which is cultivated through this partnership. We have the ability to see the innate potential in the physical world, creative energy pulsing everywhere and divine purpose waiting to be expressed. It is thrilling, a grand adventure without ever leaving the studio. #gratitude
Day 32 of year 3
The boat and tree make another appearance! I haven't figured this one out yet which usually means it holds an important message. It also means this symbol will be showing up again and again until I unlock its meaning. I'm looking forward to that. Sometimes it takes years for me to be able to listen deeply enough to get it. I've been making fish for 20 years or more and I finally understood them just last year. So one foot in front of the other and back to work! xo
Day 22 of Year 3
I'm working through something with all these self portraits. Although I'm not sure what right now, I am sure that it is important stick with this process and listen deeply to see what's on the other side. This piece provoked a strong reaction of discomfort, so much so that I have trouble looking at it. It must embody an energy that no longer serves me and needs to be transformed. Making this print was a start in that process, a moment of identification. Now I need to embrace this discomfort and work with it by making more prints. The act of embracing what is given rather than avoiding it has transformative power. I may never understand the content, much of art works outside of the conscious mind, but I do have trust and faith in the importance of the process.
Day 21 of Year 3
One of the challenges of making art publicly is staying true to your inner voice. Praise can sometimes be a bit of a siren song. Once an artist knows something sells or gets a good response, there is a natural and unconscious tendency to want to continue to produce work that pleases. I've been pouring over the older images in this project in preparation for my book. In the past, I often worked one theme sometimes for weeks. Today I realized that recently I have been unconsciously limiting that practice because I'm worried people might get bored. Luckily, now that I am aware of this, I can release that behavior. I want to listen completely to my inner creative flow without imposing external control. My time in the studio is always a spiritual training and I find that usually external limits come from a place of fear. So tonight's images feel very risky to me, they are different and I'm not sure if they are good, but I'm putting them out there anyway. This project shows what happens on a nightly basis, the good, the bad and the ugly- it's all a necessary part of the process. xo
Print 1: mask
Print 2: polishing the mirror (ghost of the underlayer of image 1)
Day 338 of Year 2 (Actually Day 343)
The fountain or spring is such a hopeful symbol, the deep and irrepressible source of creativity breaking through the hard shell of the material world. It's always there, this underground well, a gift for every human to tap. In troubling times it is great comfort to have this inner resource. Through deep listening I have found solace, nurturing, and profound connection. More and more I find my true work is listening to the tinkle and splash of this spring and then transcribing.
The Fountain
By Denise Levertov
Don’t say, don’t say there is no water
to solace the dryness at our hearts.
I have seen
the fountain springing out of the rock wall
and you drinking there. And I too
before your eyes
found footholds and climbed
to drink the cool water.
The woman of that place, shading her eyes,
frowned as she watched — but not because
she grudged the water,
only because she was waiting
to see we drank our fill and were
refreshed.
Don’t say, don’t say there is no water.
That fountain is there among its scalloped
green and gray stones,
it is still there and always there
with its quiet song and strange power
to spring in us,
up and out through the rock.
From Selected Poems https://amzn.to/2Y5nlUE
Day 322 of Year 2 (Actually Day 327)
I found it difficult to cooperate with my materials tonight, that happens sometimes and it's ok. I let it go, tomorrow is another day. We are in a period of great change so I've posted one of my favorite poems on the subject. This is a time of listening among other things. Listening is active, not passive and deep listening has the power to transform.
Want the change
By Rilke, Trans. Barrows and Macy
Want the change. Be inspired by the flame
where everything shines as it disappears.
The artist, when sketching, loves nothing so much
as the curve of the body as it turns away.
What locks itself in sameness has congealed.
Is it safer to be gray and numb?
What turns hard becomes rigid
and is easily shattered.
Pour yourself out like a fountain.
Flow into the knowledge that what you are seeking
finishes often at the start, and, with ending, begins.
Every happiness is the child of a separation
it did not think it could survive. And Daphne, becoming
a laurel,
dares you to become the wind.
From In Praise of Mortality https://amzn.to/3ctFu4c
Day 315 of Year 2 (Actually Day 320)
Tonight I made a print with 6 layers hoping each time it would work but it never came together. I had to force myself to stop and make this posted print for tonight. I will revisit the layered piece tomorrow. Sometimes work needs space to unfold. Tonight's piece is at the opposite extreme, it's under layered. But, that's okay, not every night is a success and success is not exactly my goal. Though I prefer successful pieces, my goal is to stick with the process, listen, and remain present. I am so deep into my garden that it's hard to pull my energy out and work in my studio. I tend to be extremely singled minded so I am happy I am able to keep this project going in the face of my garden's siren song. Tonight's poem relates more to my garden than this print I think, but you be the judge.
O Sweet, Irrational Worship
By Thomas Merton
Wind and a bobwhite
And the afternoon sun.
By ceasing to question the sun
I have become light,
Bird and wind.
My leaves sing.
I am earth, earth
All these lighted things
Grow from my heart.
A tall, spare pine
Stands like the initial of my first
Name when I had one.
When I had a spirit,
When I was on fire
When this valley was
Made out of fresh air
You spoke my name
In naming Your silence:
O sweet, irrational worship!
I am earth, earth
My heart's love
Bursts with hay and flowers.
I am a lake of blue air
In which my own appointed place
Field and valley
Stand reflected.
I am earth, earth
Out of my grass heart
Rises the bobwhite.
Out of my nameless weeds
His foolish worship.
Selected Poems of Thomas Merton https://amzn.to/2M4DVyL
Day 277 of Year 2 (Actually Day 282)
This print has beautiful subtle color but you can't see much of it in this picture. Not every work is internet friendly. So my mind automatically goes to, should I post it? Is my goal to succeed at social media or remain true to my monotype of the day project? My first allegiance is to art and I will not let an outside force dictate or change my work. A large part of this project is to capture whatever happens each day without judgment and help reveal the ups and downs (both inner and outer) that are part of the process of being an artist. It would be easy to augment this piece to look better on screen but it would suffer and I would be changing to the work to please someone else. The act of dulling artistic vision has an insidious effect on an artist. Slowly, change after change, and an artist begins to lose the uniqueness of their voice. This monotype a day project has forced me to learn to stand my ground. So many times photos have not done justice to the work. But, like so many other things in life, I have learned this is just a spiritual muscle that must be built. So I post this image today and hope that sometime you might see the original in person. My love to all those who are sick or suffering. xo
Day 262 of Year 2 (Actually Day 267)
Proverbs XXVIII
By Antonio Machado, Trans. Robert Bly
Beyond living and dreaming
there is something more important:
waking up.
From Times Alone https://amzn.to/2V5PJ87
Found on https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/
Day 260 of Year 2 (Actually Day 265)
I hope you are all safe and well. I'd love if you would comment on this post and let me know how you are doing. Trying to loosen things up a bit tonight and work quickly. It's been a while since I did this and it's so important to do now and then. It gives the body and muscle memory a chance to reintegrate with the mind. Without these exercises, it's easy to get too careful and start thinking rather than listening. There is nothing more important to my process than listening. I've included a picture of the plate with ink just for interest. xoxo
In Silence
By Thomas Merton
Be still.
Listen to the stones of the wall.
Be silent, they try
to speak your
name.
Listen to the living walls.
Who are you?
Who
are you? Whose
silence are you?
Who (be quiet)
are you (as these stones
are quiet). Do not
think of what you are
still less of
what you may one day be.
Rather
be what you are (but who?) be the unthinkable one
you do not know.
O be still, while
you are still alive,
and all things live around you
speaking (I do not hear)
to your own being,
speaking by the unknown
that is in you and in themselves. “I will try, like them
to be my own silence:
and this is difficult. The whole
world is secretly on fire. The stones
burn, even the stones they burn me.
How can a man be still or
listen to all things burning?
How can he dare to sit with them
when all their silence is on fire?” From The Strange Islands https://amzn.to/2UGe99k
Found on Poetry Chaikhana https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2013/09/27/thomas-merton-in-silence-2/
Poetry Chaikhana is an amazing amazing website for sacred poetry, check it out!