The Monotype of the Day Project Wrap Up

Some photo highlights of the last 900 days:

My daily post of an original monotype print is over and I will be switching to a once a week post: Monotype of the Day Mondays.

This project has transformed me and my whole relationship to making art. I have posted for 900 days, not skipping a single day even when I travelled, even when I was in the hospital for a week three different times. I am a different artist than when I started. So much of the unnecessary angst around my studio practice is either gone or the volume has been turned very low. The major changes fall into a few categories:

Self Judgment: I still judge my work (who doesn’t?), but I move on anyway. Most of the time judgements while working amount to indistinct chatter in the back of my head. After a piece is complete, if I don’t like it, I take a breath and move on. In a very deep way, I know the piece is not for me and my judgment is irrelevant. It is my job simply to work and let the world sort out the rest.

Trust: Failure and mistakes while working don’t faze me. I look at them as the hand of The Artist (universal source of all creativity) gently directing me to a different path. I have come to have an unshakable faith in the value of working, a deep trust that what we do as artists matters even though we may never know how or what effect it has. I never worry or question my purpose anymore. Instead, if those feelings come up, I walk into my studio and get back to work.

Inspiration: Inspiration is overrated. Showing up to work is the most important thing. Most days of this project, I had no idea what I was going to make until I stepped in front of my printing plate. The key thing for an artist is to be brave enough to show up anyway and trust their process.

Process: For an artist process is always more important than product. If you worry about the finished piece, you can’t be in the present moment. If you are not in the present moment it’s hard to fully access the creative flow. 

Partnership: Art materials have purpose and desires of their own. This project taught me to listen to my materials and give them voice. So many times the desires of ink lead me to the conclusion of a piece. The physical world is an inescapable fact for the artist, as is the creative flow. The artist must reach through the veil between worlds to partner with the universal creative flow while at the same time remaining firmly grounded in the present moment. We form a triad, Artist / artist / physical world. This is a partnership that must be honored not dominated.

Meaning: Each piece has two levels of meaning. There is the meaning that the viewer creates as they interact with the piece and there is the more personal meaning for the artist- a tender message from The Artist to the artist. This project has been a correspondence between lovers.

The effect on me: The constant flow of creative energy has opened me up. It washed away so much that was blocking me and enlarged my vessel. It’s even improved my health. As angst in the studio has receded, I have been able to reclaim that trapped energy and my body has responded positively. To an artist, work is life.

Gratitude: Thank you! I am beyond grateful for all the support I’ve received on this project. I am grateful for all your comments, likes, and purchases. It means the world to me. Thank you also to those who follow my progress silently, your presence is felt and appreciated. Thank you to the long suffering :) Barry Echtman who soldiered on through all my late nights, bought my supplies to the hospital, changed his schedule to help me, and so much more. Love you! Special thanks for their support (in no particular order) to Harry Echtman, Dottie Archibald, Tom Archibald, Barbara Archibald, Gayle Mahoney, Liz Munro, Wendy Bellermann, Leslie Goldman, Celene Ryan, Robert Ramos, Kathyrn McGuire, all my fellow Clerestory/4flavors artists (Jorge Larrea, Brian Stymest, Mary Young, Steve Kelly, Nora Murphy, Gayle Mahoney, Armando Outthere Diaz), Ellen Kahaner, Lisa Basile, Miles Shapiro, Poetry Chaikhana (for showing the world of sacred poetry beyond the Middle Ages all those years ago), Ann Strand, and Annemarie Greenwood. THANK YOU!!!

The whole project is viewable on my blog, Art of the Spirit (www.sybilarchibaldart.com/blog), my website (www.sybilarchibaldart.com/the-monotype-of-the-day-project), and on Instagram and Facebook. If you are interested in purchasing I’m happy to do payment plans. Most of the prints from the last few months can be found here: https://www.sybilarchibaldart.com/monotypes-for-sale. Prints before that can be found here https://www.sybilarchibaldart.com/the-monotype-of-the-day-project

 

Lots of love, Sybil

the artist surrenders, Monotype of the Day #808

808-the artist surrenders.jpg

Day 76 of year 3

I am grateful that 2 of my monotypes found wonderful homes today. It is always a moment of great joy to put a piece into the hands of its new owner. This is an interesting process, letting a piece go out into the world. Artists put so much of themselves into their work all the while knowing that it must leave them forever and irrevocably. So the artist must learn detachment. They must learn that although they have poured themselves into that piece, it is not them. It sounds like an easy concept, but it is a hard lesson every artist must learn. It effects an artists ability to sell and also their ability to discuss their work. Praise or blame for a piece, critiques and criticisms are not critiques of the artist as a person, though it can sometimes feel this way. When the work goes out, sometimes it is as cherished as the artist desires and sometimes the world has other plans. Once a frame shop burned down with my piece inside. So what is an artist to do? Let go our need to control what happens to the work and trust. Trust in the meaning and purpose of working. Have faith that what you do matters though you may never know the why, where, or how of it. Be grateful for your amazing collectors and get back into the studio where you belong.

For the next 24 hours buy this monotype for 10% off here: https://www.sybilarchibaldart.com/daily-monotype-sale

After that, you can purchase it here: https://www.sybilarchibaldart.com/monotypes-for-sale

raising the bar, Monotype of the Day #792

792-raising the bar.jpg

Day 60 of year 3

I'm returning to my roots. I haven't worked in black ink for at least a year. It's soothing, a mental reset. The colors of my current ink choices have me feeling a bit fed up. Because I'm only able to work with water soluble inks, my palette is considerably limited. Limits can be a good thing, they force you to stretch and think creatively but some times you just need to run free. So I'm giving color a rest for now. Overall, I'm in sort of a weird place with my work the last few weeks. It feels uncomfortable. I'm working on embracing this place of uncertainty rather than judging it. I know whatever is going on, it's necessary to my process. At the same time, my desire to spent more time on larger project is growing. Like many artists, my work has been upended by COVID. Projects that I had been working on for a traditional gallery setting prior to quarantine stopped feeling relevant. Finally though, new projects are beginning to sprout and I look forward to seeing what unfolds. I'm been reading a lot of Rilke lately, the poem below is speaking to me tonight.

I live my life in widening circles
By Rilke, Trans Barrows & Macy

I live my life in widening circles
that reach out across the world.
I may not ever complete the last one,
but I give myself to it.

I circle around God, that primordial tower.
I have been circling for thousands of years,
and I still don't know: am I a falcon,
a storm, or a great song?

From Rilke's Book of Hours https://amzn.to/2ZxWMJH

For more information on purchasing this monotype click here or see “Buy Art” in the menu above.

worship & worship ghost print, Monotype of the Day $784

.Day 53 of year 3

Yesterday when we walked in the forest I saw the first colorful leaves of fall on the ground. I had that wistful end of summer feeling and today fall colors have shown up in my prints. Change is inevitable. The seasons turn by. Some change is easy and some is difficult, even unacceptable like illness or death. I have spent a good deal of my life learning to accept the unacceptable. I have been ill since my early 20s and I've missed a lot of things. I've struggled and almost died. But everything that I had to go through changed me for the better and opened my heart. This experience has grown in me a deep and abiding trust in my journey. Through everything I've experienced, there has been a greater purpose. I've learned to do what I can to the best of my abilities and trust that what needs to happen will. What needs to happen and what I want to happen are not always the same thing. Trust goes hand in hand with releasing control. This is a lesson that is also learned in the studio. the artist trusts in their own process, the artist surrenders to The Artist.

the lead, Monotype of the Day #737

Day 6 of Year 3

I feel such.a sense of relief that my two year anniversary is behind me. I didn't realize how much pressure I was putting on myself to define my situation. The same thing happened on my one year anniversary. I built it up in my head so much that once I made it, I sort of fell apart. The first week after was a real struggle in the studio. but I kept at it and eventually that cleared. There are natural ebbs and flows to working and then there are the roadblocks we create in our minds. Meditation, which has unfortunately fallen off my radar lately, helps. Another thing that helps is knowing that you're in your own way and waiting it out, trusting that the creative flow will necessarily wash the mental dross away. More than anything, making art is about trust, trusting the inner messages from The Artist to the artist, trusting your materials, trusting the world with your work, trusting yourself to be authentic and brave, trusting the importance and purpose of working though we may never know why.

windows, Monotype of the Day #618

Day 248 of Year 2 (Actually Day 253)

Is this a sunrise or sunset? I wasn't sure until I realized it is both. One way of being is ending as another is coming into form. Now is a moment of deep surrender and trust. It is a moment of unknowing. Our old ways have, at least for the time being, come to an end. The studio teaches so much. In the studio the artist learns to let go and embrace the unknown, to let life force run through them and into the world. By doing this, the artist is changed and healed, enveloped by the greening, generative energy that undergirds all of life. What happens in the studio then spills out and effects the world. If you feel helpless think of the artist. There is little we can do right now to change the outside world. We must stay home, we must wait. But we can look inside, we can find kindness for ourselves and others, we can heal and reshape our internal world and thereby create ripples that positively effect everyone around us. We have lost a lot but all is not lost, we can still make these moments count. Sending prayers for healing and love to all those who are sick or in difficulty. xo

into the Light, Monotype of the Day #581

Day 211 of Year 2 (Actually Day 216)

It is really common for an artist to have an ebb after putting together a large project like a show. I knew this and planned a number of projects to keep me moving. I've embarked on all of them and things are moving forward in the studio but the flow of energy is what it is. Things fill and empty, they ripen and fall. I can not escape the cycle of life. Although planning has helped lessen my ebb, I still find the need to recharge. That means keeping up my work but being ok for now that it is floundering a bit and I'm not satisfied. Something new and mysterious (for now) is growing. My job is to refill my tank so I can pour forth creative flow again. By trusting in and accepting that this is a natural cycle, it is much easier to go though.
Technical note, tonight I started with printing small plates multiple times and then put the large plate on top. That's the reverse of my usual process. It was fun to work this way and I like the results.

"...That Passeth All Understanding"
By Denise Levertov

An awe so quiet
I don't know when it began.

A gratitude
had begun
to sing in me.

Was there
some moment
dividing
song from no song?

When does dewfall begin?

When does night
fold its arms over our hearts
to cherish them?

When is daybreak?

From Selected Poems https://amzn.to/2SpmWLn

embryo, Monotype of the Day #555

Day 185 of Year 2 (Actually Day 190)

I have a number of larger projects bumping around in my head, but I'm feeling at a bit of a loss in the print studio. Getting my show put together was a major energetic completion. The new energies have not uncovered themselves yet. It's an uncomfortable moment which can easily derail an artist. No one likes to feel uncomfortable. No one likes to make work they're not happy with. The trick is just staying with the discomfort. It has to be ok to make incomplete, ugly, unsatisfying, whatever work. My trust in the process is absolute. Knowing that whatever it is being made today is necessary to bring an artist to the next step has carried me through many a rough patch.

From burweed
by Kobayashi Issa, Trans. Stryk and Ikemoto

From burweed,
such a butterfly
was born?

From Zen Poetry https://amzn.to/3anmIeT (A great book with a wide variety of poems and poets)

forest time, Monotype of the Day #534

Day 164 of Year 2 (Actually Day 169)

There is mundane, everyday time and then there is forest time, the hidden and surprising divine time. Making art hooks you into divine time. Every artist will tell you that hours can vanish in a minute while they are working. But divine time is much more than this too. It is the unfolding of plans the Universe has for us. It is when the help you need magically appears or when something beautiful falls painfully apart but is replaced by something better than you could ever have imagined. It is a secret mysterious force that sweeps our lives forward if we surrender to it. Stepping out of worry and into surrender and trust is challenging, but these things are spiritual muscles. With practice, things get easier and you grow stronger. So I am practicing and working, and then practicing and working again. And so it will go until I reach the end of my days.

the forest at night: reaching, Monotype of the Day #533

Day 163 of Year 2 (Actually Day 168)

The forest is such a mysterious place, so much happens there we are unaware of. Like the creative process, we can catch a peak but not really experience it deeply unless we enter in. The veiled nature of the creative process has been the centering theme of my life. Often it's felt like an ascent, like climbing a ladder. But recently this has changed to feel more like a journey deep into a forest to find a mystical place, a true home. Before I strove to heal myself to be a better vessel for creativity. Now I accept we are all imperfect vessels and it's through our cracks that that the Light comes in as Leonard Cohen so beautifully puts it. This change is huge because it removes another control from the process. Even a good goal like healing acts to limit possibilities. I am longer trying to make anything happen, I am just here to welcome and partner with the unceasing flow of creative energy as it enters into the world to transform everything it meets.

dream of falling water, Monotype of the Day #529

Day 159 of Year 2 (Actually Day 164)

The last number of days fountain / waterfall images keep coming out, but this feels like the end of that energy for now. I can't say why, but I have real sense of completion. Maybe later understanding will come, maybe not. So many energies that work through us are not for the conscious mind to understand, we must just stay the course and trust. The longer I make art, the more I understand just how essential trust is to the process. Without it the artist is condemned to repeat themselves in an every deepening rut.
The whole intense, fun, and sometimes stressful journey of prepping for my solo show has also reminded me to trust. The more I've let go of control and allowed things to unfold in their own time, the more miraculous instances of help have appeared. I am very grateful and I am really looking forward to sharing more of my work with you.


This work is paired with "For Presence" by John O’Donohue from To Bless the Space Between Us https://amzn.to/2PRTsVm

the sprout, Monotype of the Day #515

Day 149 of Year 2 (Actually Day 150)

“The seed is in the ground. Now may we rest in hope, while darkness does its work.” ~ Wendell Berry

Sometimes it's necessary get out of the studio, take a deep breath, and air out my head. Creativity is a beautiful mystery whose mechanisms are veiled. We aren't meant to know how it works, just to receive and bring that energy into the physical world. Getting out of the studio occasionally disengages the mind and gives space for that mystery to unfold and develop unconsciously. It releases control so surprising things can happen upon returning to work. Like a seed maturing underground, we know nothing of what is afoot until the first shoots break through. That is the beautiful adventure of being an artist.

the sprout
#monotypeoftheday
Year 2, Day 149
(Total project days 515)

sprouting, Monotype of the Day #514

Day 148 of Year 2 (Actually Day 149)

I'm not sure how I feel about this image. Part of this project is to post the good days and the off days, but I am excited that a new symbol is coming in: the sprouting seed, new growth. Today, new growth manifested as a shift in perspective. I realized my relationship to prepping for my show needed an overhaul. I've been pushing which is never a good space for making art. Art is about allowing what is to come through. Pushing creates a barrier to the natural creative flow. I decided to relax and trust all would be well, to wait and see how things unfold in their own time. Immediately three wonderful things happened. 1) A good friend popped in and helped look at a piece that was stalled, 2) I had a huge breakthrough with that piece, and 3) another friend offered me his truck to move work, a lovely gesture. All of a sudden I went from using my energy to push against what felt like a massive wall of work, to people showing up to help me. A lot got done today and I am much more at ease. What a difference a shift in perspective can make.