ready to turn, Monotype of the Day #567

567.jpg

Day 197 of Year 2 (Actually Day 202)

I feel was too careful with this one. Tomorrow I am going to do a number of smaller sketches to loosen up again. I wanted this image too much and my need curtailed my flow. It's exciting though, this is the first time a key has actually gone into a keyhole in my work.
The poem is just one stanza from a poem that is too long to post here, though I encourage you to look it up and read the whole thing. (You can find it here: https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/O/OliverMary/HaveYouEverT/index.html) xo

Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches (excerpt)
By Mary Oliver ".....
Who can open the door who does not reach for the latch?
Who can travel the miles who does not put one foot
in front of the other, all attentive to what presents itself
continually?
Who will behold the inner chamber who has not observed
with admiration, even with rapture, the outer stone?
......"
From West Wind https://amzn.to/2Ua2qjm

gestation, Monotype of the Day #547

Day 177 of Year 2 (Actually Day 182)

Another egg. I'm busy packing up tonight because tomorrow morning the truck arrives bright and early to be loaded for the gallery. Fun, nerve wracking, exciting? I don't really know how to describe it. But tonight, besides this print, my world is bubble wrap! Wish me luck! xoxo

the egg at sunrise, Monotype of the Day #544

Day 174 of Year 2 (Actually Day 179)

Three more work days until delivery of my show. It's exciting and it's a leap into the unknown. I've pushed myself with a couple of pieces that incorporate wind, sound and light. All the different components will come together at the last minute at the gallery. It's a risk but I figure the ideas wouldn't have been given if they weren't executable. So I trust the process we will see what hatches. xo

the forest at night, Monotype of the Day #532

Day 162 of Year 2 (Actually Day 167)

Sabbaths 2014- VI
by Wendell Berry

Up in the blown-down woods
you try to imagine the tornado
cracking through the trees
while you slept, branches
and birds' eggs whirling
in the dark. You can't do it.
You can imagine the place
as it was, and as it is.
The moment of transformation
the presence of creation,
itself beyond your reach.

From Given https://amzn.to/36azgE5
the forest at night
#monotypeoftheday
Year 2, Day 162
(Total project days 532) 

a new direction, Monotype of the Day #523

Day 153 of Year 2 (Actually Day 154)

Working very hard in my studio right now. The new sculptural paintings are different, larger and some with light and sound elements. The monotypes are changing too, new colors are entering. It's all making me feel unsettled because I am in unknown territory. But that is good, art should bring change and new energy into the world. The trick is being present to the change instead of resisting it.

onward, Monotype of the Day #519

Day 153 of Year 2 (Actually Day 154)

Working with this orange color is reviving. It warms me physically from the inside of my chest. Sometimes I just need to receive that energy, like a medicine.
I don't think I've posted tonight's poem before, fingers crossed! 🙂 It's time to start marking my books so it's clear what I've posted.

on point, Monotype of the Day #495

Day 129 of Year 2 (Actually Day 130)

Hymn to the Nameless One
By Dorothy Walters

Now as the year swings down,
and the darkness encloses
even the smallest bird,
the largest animal,
and we too enter the hour
when everything is falling once more
into the twilight
of not knowing,
what we ask is that
you be with us,
not as a pillar of fire
nor a blaze across
the heavens,
but like water
at rest in a pitcher
which catches the morning light
and is filled
with its own radiance.

From Ley Lines of the Soul: Poems of Ecstasy and Ascension https://amzn.to/2XCnFdq

the blessing, Monotype of the Day #461

Day 95 of Year 2 (Actually Day 96)

There is a magical air about the studio these days. I made some real progress today finishing up some old projects that have been hanging around. I am so grateful for the help of my studio assistant. I'm also grateful for a person who recently showed up out of the blue with some much needed expertise. He is helping me make a piece I've been dancing around for ages. It's taken so many years to understand that the less I try to force projects to happen, the more things move. Each time I stop myself from pressing against an obstacle with a gentle, "patience Sybil, patience. It's okay not to see the way", something new and exciting opens up.

To Know the Dark
by Wendell Berry

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

From The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry https://amzn.to/33MW1wf

the transfer, Monotype of the Day #460

Day 94 of Year 2 (Actually Day 95)

A larger sheet of paper would have been useful here. I wanted to do more with the second plate but alas, no room. Maybe tomorrow. This image was printed 3 times. 1, the hand, 2, the hand again with the left over ink from the first print, & 3, the person holding the finger. Printing is so magical, you never know exactly what anything will look like once ink hits paper. It teaches detachment. If you really love an image, it's difficult to take that leap of faith and print a second or third layer over it. So you must reserve judgment. This is one of the most important rules in the studio.

Raga
by Denise Levertov

The fluteplayer
can’t be seen to draw breath,
doesn’t even
part his lips. But music
flows from the
wooden flute, a river
of honey over-
flowing the honeycomb.

From Sands of the Well https://amzn.to/2pmQyNG (To see the bonus content posted with this on my patron page checkout www.patreon.com/sybilarchibald)

Here, Monotype of the Day #459

Day 93 of Year 2 (Actually Day 94)


Today, I needed to feel this orange, with its life affirming heat. From there, the image unfolded. It always starts like that, a flush of color or a fragment of image pops into my head like a key to unlocking a mystery. Then, the innate wisdom of the body takes over. My hands, even in their weakened state, know more about making art than my brain ever could. In this process, the brain has a more important task than thinking. It must empty and listen. The ink's voice, the images that pop in, the nudges, must be heard. All are messages from the universal source of all creativity, The Artist, shining through from behind the veil, a gift to the artist.

By Angelus Silesius, Trans. Stephen Mitchell
God, whose love and joy
are present everywhere,
Can't come to visit you
unless you aren't there.

From The Enlightened Heart https://amzn.to/2OKKWHD