moonlight walking, Monotype of the Day #741

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Day 10 of Year 3

More of the energy from last night processing through.

From the Zi Ye, a collection of Chinese folk songs from the 6th - 3rd century BCE.
Trans. Arthur Waley

All night I could not sleep
because of the moonlight on my bed.
I kept hearing a voice calling:
Out of Nowhere, Nothing answered "yes."

From a wonderful book, Women in Praise of the Sacred https://amzn.to/2WM5i6x 

even at night, there is Light, Monotype of the Day #730

Day 359 of Year 2 (Actually Day 364)

One year ago I made my first boat fire image. Looking back on photos of that print (sold for a while), I find myself as fascinated as ever by it's symbolism. Last year's print was calm and peaceful, this year the waters are rough, but still there is a sense of hope. This print is a message telling me to take heart. My vessel may be small and insignificant in the vast sea, but the way is lit and the fire is strong. Wishing you many blessings. xo

nightscape, Monotype of the Day #725

Day 355 of Year 2 (Actually Day 360)

I haven't had much energy the past week. Life is full of choices but when your energy is limited your choices are like a knife slicing away parts of life that you love. Over time I've made peace with this aspect of my journey though sometimes, it's still not easy. In the US we are doers, but the beauty of my situation is in learning the power of being. Being is the place where creativity lives, where we find the ground from which all things must grow. Even unwanted pauses allow space for new ideas, work, or directions to root. I turn to tonight's poem (which I have posted before) to remind we of this because it's easy to forget when you desire to do but cannot.

Gitanjali #81
by Rabindranath Tagore

On many an idle day have I grieved over lost time. But it is never lost, my lord. Thou hast taken every moment of my life in thine own hands.
Hidden in the heart of things thou art nourishing seeds into sprouts, buds into blossoms, and ripening flowers into fruitfulness.
I was tired and sleeping on my idle bed and imagined all work had ceased. In the morning I woke up and found my garden full with wonders of flowers.

From Gitanjali https://amzn.to/38iqHao

the keyhole at night, Monotype of the Day #709

Day 339 of Year 2 (Actually Day 344)

I'm hitting that spot in my process where it's clear my work needs to evolve. I try not to judge the finished piece but when things need to shift I get an unsatisfied feeling. When I look at this piece, I feel it more in my head than in my heart and I make art to escape the limits of language and feel and experience things that are hard to articulate. Part of my unsatisfied feeling stems from hitting some physical limitations in what I can do without studio help. This is not unique to me though. Every artist has to contend with how the physical world shapes constricts the scope of their vision. The solution is to get creative and think outside the box. I'm percolating. We shall see what happens.

windows, Monotype of the Day #697

Day 327 of Year 2 (Actually Day 332)

I haven't been spending as much time in my studio lately between the puppy and just trying to manage a lot of the things I usually have help with. Even though I'm in the studio everyday I still miss it. There are lots of ideas I'd like to explore. So, I'm just being patient and trusting that this limited working time is allowing more energy to cook below the surface. Already I feel the tendrils of new work pushing up through the soil, wanting to see the light.
windows
#monotypeoftheday
Year 2, Day 327
(Total project days 697)

the edge of night, Monotype of the Day #661

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Day 291 of Year 2 (Actually Day 296)

I mixed a color tonight that has a good amount of white in it. The white seems to have blocked a lot of the under (ghost) layer and also doesn't have the depth of the inks without white mixed in. Lesson learned. Every image that fails in someway is a doorway. There are a lot of failures in studio practice, some true failures and some perceived by the artist alone. It is so important to understand that failure is a vital, beautiful part of the process. Understanding this is like grease for your gears. It keeps the creative spring flowing instead of stopped up by disappointment.

Quatrain 1115
By Rumi, Trans Colman Barks

The minute I am disappointed, I feel encouraged.
When I am ruined, I am healed.
When I am quiet and solid as the ground, then I talk
the low tines of thunder for everyone.

From Open Secret, Versions of Rumi https://amzn.to/2YvQsm8 (A really wonderful collection)

lake light, Monotype of the Day #615

Day 245 of Year 2 (Actually Day 250)

Making landscapes puts me in touch with the spaciousness of the inner world. I find myself making these moonlit scenes when I feel confined. A lot of us are feeling hemmed in right now, but the inner world is a beautiful resource. There is so much to explore and know inside. Let us become explorers and adventurers. The interior world is as vast as our physical confinement is small.

voyager, Monotype of the Day #585

Day 215 of Year 2 (Actually Day 220)

Last night I dreamed I was climbing a ladder. I don't dream very often these days, so when it happens it's significant. In September 2018, near the beginning of this project, I was making a lot of ladders and there is an image similar to this one. This one has keys though, the image has evolved. These evolved images resonate with special energy, they are tender personal messages from The Artist to the artist. I always come back to the alchemical saying, "As above so below, as within so without, as the universe so the soul". Everywhere I look I see cycles, ebb and flow, winter and summer, night and day, it only makes sense to see it in the studio as well. I am heartened when I see evolution in an older image. Growth and change are at the heart of life and I am happy to be carried along in that rhythmic pulse.

movement, Monotype of the Day #556

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Day 186 of Year 2 (Actually Day 191)

I've gone back to my roots tonight, birds have been with me from the start. A self portrait with a bird on my shoulder was my very first painting. They represent creativity coming into the world and I am refilling my creative tank right now. Tomorrow I'm off to the art supply store to refill my physical supplies too. Then I will be all set to dive back in. I'm including a Kabir poem translated by Robert Bly as a reminder to myself. The poem is about seizing your life, living now. My show is up but my work continues. xoxo

Poem by Kabir, trans. Robert Bly

Friend, hope for the Guest while you are alive.
Jump into experience while you are alive!
Think… and think… while you are alive.
What you call ‘salvation’ belongs to the time
before death.

If you don’t break your ropes while you’re alive,
do you think
ghosts will do it after?

The idea that the soul will join with the ecstatic
just because the body is rotten—
that is all fantasy.
What is found now is found then.
If you find nothing now,
you will simply end up with an apartment
in the City of Death.
If you make love with the divine now, in the next life
you will have the face of satisfied desire.

So plunge into the truth, find out who the Teacher is,
believe in the Great Sound!

Kabir says this: When the Guest is being searched for,
it is the intensity of the longing for the Guest
that does all the work.
Look at me, and you will see a slave of that intensity.

From Kabir https://amzn.to/36flzmx

carried by wings, Monotype of the Day #540

Day 170 of Year 2 (Actually Day 175)

While cleaning my studio yesterday, I found a discarded print, just an empty boat. It called to me so instead of dumping it, tonight I printed two images on it- the angel and then the person. The creative process has no timeline.
Tonight is my son's last night home for a while so I'll leave at that for now. xo