reflection, Monotype of the Day #767

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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

annunciation, the window, Monotype of the Day #759

Day 27 of Year 3

This is the ghost print from yesterday with a few layers printed on top. Yesterday felt like an important print in my spiritual development, a moment of absence and emptying. Consciously adding into that image today feels transformational.

What Else?
By Carolyn Locke

The way the trees empty themselves of leaves,
let drop their ponderous fruit,
the way the turtle abandons the sun-warmed log,
the way even the late-blooming aster
succumbs to the power of frost—

this is not a new story.
Still, on this morning, the hollowness
of the season startles, filling
the rooms of your house, filling the world
with impossible light, improbable hope.

And so, what else can you do
but let yourself be broken
and emptied? What else is there
but waiting in the autumn sun?

From The Place We Become https://amzn.to/3iC9rmb
Found on http://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2015/10/carolyn-locke-what-else.html

annunciation, the wait, Monotype of the Day #758

Day 26 of Year 3

All day I tried to get a good watercolor print with no luck. Mess followed mess, much of it due to technical problems. It was terribly frustrating so I went back to my friend, the ink for a few prints at the end of the day. One thing is certain, I definitely appreciate my ink a lot more! Both watercolor and acrylic have lots of possibilities so I'm going to keep at them and see what happens. For now though, I'm still in that uncomfortable in-between place waiting for my flow to return. A new wave is coming but when it will arrive is a mystery. The trick is waiting and remaining empty, holding the space for when it arrives. Waiting doesn't mean stopping work, it means not grasping and not trying to make something happen. It means putting one foot in front of the other and being present so you know when it happens. I think this print captures some of that needed inner spaciousness.

The Avowel
By Denise Levertov

As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.

From The Stream and the Sapphire https://amzn.to/3a97hqO

emergence & emergence ghost, Monotype of the Day #694

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Day 324 of Year 2 (Actually Day 329)

I put a little too much ink on tonight. I has been raining a lot here and it is very humid. When that happens you definitely have to use less ink. Art materials are very effected by the weather and if you're not paying attention, it can cause a lot of trouble. I liked my first print tonight but everyone else here preferred the ghost. What do you think?

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)

waiting to open, Monotype of the Day #641

Day 271 of Year 2 (Actually Day 276)

I feel at a bit of a loss in the studio right now. With the puppy, my studio time has been limited and I'm missing that internal spacious where work starts to hatch. I always turn to the Wendell Berry piece below the title when I feel this way.

The Real Work
Wendell Berry

It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.

From Standing Words https://amzn.to/34xo8Rm

you are the key, Monotype of the Day #637

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Day 267 of Year 2 (Actually Day 272)

Sometime it feels like we are very small and insignificant in the face of world events, but there is one place where we can always effect change, inside.

Instructions
By Danna Faulds

Hold the silence like
a mother holds her child.
Hold your ground while
all around you structures
crumble into nothing.
Focus on the still point
in your center until you
are filled with light, until
Spirit speaks to you in
words you understand,
until the love in your
heart grows so strong
it must be shared.

From Prayers to the Infinite https://amzn.to/2RoF47y

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.

portal, Monotype of the Day #606

Day 236 of Year 2 (Actually Day 241)

Another evening of failed attempts on the etching press. But I'm really enjoying the learning curve. This monoprint is my favorite of the night. It has a lot of subtlety in color that isn't completely coming through in the photo. What I need is a full day to just play, to work, rest, absorb, and work again. Hopefully soon I'll be rested up enough to attempt this, my tank is a bit empty at the moment. Until tomorrow. xo

the keyhole takes a ride, Monotype of the Day #597

Day 227 of Year 2 (Actually Day 232)

Today was my closing, it was wonderful and I am so grateful to everyone who came out. What an amazing experience my show has been! Tonight's print is a quick demo I did during the closing. I'm not in love with it. But as I said during my artist talk, it's not for me to judge. My job is making, let everyone else do the judging 🙂. Right now I am so depleted I can't even think, so until tomorrow. xoxo @clerestoryfineart

the reach, Monotype of the Day #577

Day 207 of Year 2 (Actually Day 212)

The Ocean Moving All Night
By Rumi Trans. Coleman Barks & John Moyne

Stay with us. Don't sink to the bottom
like a fish going to sleep.
Be with the ocean moving steadily all night,
not scattered like a rainstorm.

The spring we're looking for
is somewhere in this murkiness.
See the night-lights up there traveling together,
the candle awake in its gold dish.

Don't slide into the cracks of the ground like spilled mercury.
When the full moon comes out, look around.

From Open Secret https://amzn.to/31EwLZ2

stigmata, Monotype of the Day #575

Day 205 of Year 2 (Actually Day 210)

Making last night's bird felt like talking with an old friend so I brought him back tonight. I found tonight's poem on the internet. It is attributed to Rumi but I can't find any citation of where it came from so that may or may not be true. However, it's a beautiful thought so I share it here tonight below the title.

Attributed to Rumi
I said: what about my eyes?
He said: Keep them on the road.

I said: What about my passion?
He said: Keep it burning.

I said: What about my heart?
He said: Tell me what you hold inside it?

I said: Pain and sorrow.
He said: Stay with it. The wound is the place where the Light enters you.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1299504-i-said-what-about-my-eyes-he-said-keep-them

feed me, Monotype of the Day #560

Day 190 of Year 2 (Actually Day 195)

Another bird in black ink. I'm not sure what's happening, but clearly I need to hear, feel or see this image. I'm not used to the daily images being quite so similar, but I trust the process and know this must be necessary to where I am headed next. Something is definitely loosening up inside. Birds are messengers of creativity and I am starting a lot of new projects right now. I am grateful for the the gifts these birds are carrying.