hand, Monotype of the Day #726

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Day 356 of Year 2 (Actually Day 361)

I had a break though tonight. The piece is fine, but what happened in my mind was important. The number one limitation on any artist is their mind, the unconscious rules that shape our actions. This is particularly true in printmaking. The plates must be lined up, no marks on the paper, etc. etc. etc. Somewhere in my head, I decided I couldn't add more color to a print unless it was printed with a plate. Tonight I painted in a touch of color on this print to wake it up. It's a surprisingly small thing that has the potential to transform the way I work. Will it? I don't know, but anything that breaks through the hold the mind has on possibilities is a good thing.

cocoon, Monotype of the Day #493

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Day 127 of Year 2 (Actually Day 127)

Deep change happens beyond the comprehension of the mind. This is why it helps to surrender and trust. When the mind cannot understand something is afoot. The studio is a microcosm, trusting in the process here helps me trust out there in the world. The Artist trains me (an artist) everyday in my studio. This builds spiritual muscles that inform and change the way I lead my life. The result is my small "a" in artist keeps shrinking. The more it shrinks the happier and more empowered I feel. It's a beautiful sacred process and I am grateful to have a chance to pursue this work in the studio and in my spirit.

From burweed
By Kobayashi Issa, Trans. Stryk and Ikemoto

From burweed,
such a butterfly
was born?

From Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter https://amzn.to/2XpvtyM 

in the fire, Monotype of the Day #437

Day 71 of Year 2 (Actually Day 72)

Quatrain 568
By Rumi


The human shape is a ghost
made of distraction and pain.
Sometimes pure light, sometimes cruel,
trying wildly to open,
this image tightly held within itself. (from Open Secret, Versions of Rumi, Trans. Moyne & Barks https://amzn.to/30HpDcj)

the artist holds space, Monotype of the Day #383

Day 18 of Year 2

I have a lot to deal with, everybody does. Sometimes though, the amount of time I use each day to manage my illness feels overwhelming. This forces me to make conscious and wise choices about how to spend the rest of my time. I am grateful to be reminded not to squander time but to live. It's tricky though because when your body isn't cooperating, your mind can begin to box you in too. You can easily create more limits than your physical state requires. To hold that space open, to have fear but act anyway, is a muscle that must be worked everyday. So much of life is about the space and freedom we allow ourselves in our own minds. I know I have physical limitations and an illness, but I have never thought of myself as a sick person.

help will come, Monotype of the Day #374

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Day 9 of Year 2

A great studio day today. Meditation is back and it makes such a huge difference in the creative flow. I've been trapped in my head since day 365 and that blocks everything. Finally while working, I lost myself completely again. Happy dance! Things are marinating inside. I feel it, but the work goes on. I am relieved and have a great deal of gratitude for this gentle beat of work that gives rhythm to my life.

The Sea's Repeated Gesture
By Denise Levertov

Stroking its blue shore
though out the night, patient, patient
determined rhetoric that never
persuades, the rocks unwilling
to be pebbles, nights and days and
centuries passing before the pebbles
dwindle to join the sand, the sand itself
at last barring the sea's way
into the land, an island
forming from the silt. Yet still
all this night and all
the nights of our life the sea
stroking its blue shore,
patient, patient

the artist is frustrated, Monotype of the Day #353

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The artist (that's me 😊) is frustrated today. So much, but that has to be okay because it's part of life. I'm sitting here and half of me is seething because of all the difficulties I have to deal with just to get into my studio. Sometimes I feel my work is progressing at a snail's pace and I'll need to scream just to release the energy of all the projects still trapped in my head. But, the other half of me is patiently watching because this is just another wave passing through and soon enough things will change.

One happy thing though, I have no idea how I got this effect in the print. It looks much more like a drawing than a print. This will be fun to explore next time I'm feeling out of sorts 😊

Holy Ground
by Ivan M. Granger

Let the vision
of the vastness
you are
leave you
in glorious
ruins.

Pilgrims will come
to imagine
the grand temple
that once stood,
not realizing the wreck made this empty plain holy ground.

Side note: This poet runs the website Poetry Chaikana. It's an amazing resource for sacred poetry. I have his book, but here is the link to the website and poem online: http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/G/GrangerIvanM/HolyGround/index.html

red-handed, Monotype of the Day #329

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I love this poem, it gives strength.

Self Pity
by D. H. Lawrence

I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.

the artist in a bottle, Monotype of the Day #257

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Hospital stay 2- print 5

Between the form of Life and Life
by Emily Dickinson
Between the form of Life and Life
The difference is as big
As Liquor at the Lip between
And Liquor in the Jug
The latter -- excellent to keep --
But for ecstatic need
The corkless is superior --
I know for I have tried

http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/D/DickinsonEmi/Betweenformo/index.html

Possible release tomorrow. Keep you fingers crossed! 🤞🤞🤞