the artist and the moon, Monotype of the Day #346

Tonight's print is a bit of a surprise for me with it's simplicity and muted colors. I had intended a flash of red tearing through the moon but I found myself unable to follow through in the end. The print said no. I had the good fortune to visit the National Portrait Gallery this weekend and I was inspired by the subtleties of of many of the pieces. I mixed up a grey and this is what appeared, and with no birds! There is an emptiness and spaciousness here that bodes well- the vessel emptying in order to be filled. Silence is hard to come by, but I found some earlier and it made all the difference in this print. PS I decided to post print details every few days. This a compromise between the yes details people and the no details people 🙂 Click in the photos to see the details at their correct size.

On this summer night
by Jusammi Chikako, trans. Edwin Cranston On this summer night

All the household lies asleep, And in the doorway,
For once open after dark,
Stands the moon, brilliant, cloudless.

xoxo

the artist is here, Monotype of the Day #345

Making art, when all else is stripped away, is a form of prayer. It is an act of faith that working is transformational. Artists can construct all kinds of valid reasons for working, but underlying everything is the reviving, healing effect of making art. By tapping into the fundamental goodness of the creative process, more Light flows into and heals the world. To all artists out there, I say your work is important. The results go out into the world to do their own work, we can never truly know what impact may come. That's not an artist's job anyway, it's a distraction. Our job is the process, the act of creation is a prayer to heal the world.

PRAYER
By Humberto Ak'Abal

May the door of the sun be opened,
may the door of the moon be opened.

Let it be clear in the sky,
let it be clear on the earth,
let it be clear in the soul;

so that the light does not let
the darkness take over
and the markings of our road
will remain.

xoxo

Untitled, Monotype of the Day #343

1) The title on this one is eluding me. Take your best shot 🙂 Sometimes, most times, it's best not to force the issue. Things tend to become illuminated in their own sweet time, even that time is not on the schedule we want. Pausing has it's uses, it lets the energy unfold and and run it's course. When you work like I do, it's all about the flow and transformation of energy. So, I'm happy to let this marinate and wait for a title to reveal itself.

2) What's the verdict on the detail shots? Do they add something or should I just post the completed piece? Inquiring minds want to know!

3) xoxo

Alive, Monotype of the Day #342

I posted an image similar to this several months ago when I was in and out of the hospital. It was all black with a touch of blue, rather than red. (Here's the link if you'd like to see/read it https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvsvx1CDNkQ/.) That image was about being held and supported even when we don't feel it, the dark night of the soul. This image feels alive to me. It's the feeling of being okay and supported anyway and also knowing it. It's fascinating how images come up again and again but carry very different meanings. I've included some closeup details for fun 😊

Variation On A Theme By Rilke
by Denise Levertov

A certain day became a presence to me;
there it was, confronting me--a sky, air, light:
a being. And before it started to descend
from the height of noon, it leaned over
and struck my shoulder as if with
the flat of a sword, granting me
honor and a task. The day's blow
rang out, metallic--or it was I, a bell awakened,
and what I heard was my whole self
saying and singing what it knew: I can.

xoxo

the gift, Monotype of the Day #340

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I've talked before about my relationship as an artist to The Artist, the source of all creativity. I am the glove for The Artist's hand. That doesn't mean I have no impact, a glove changes the way a hand moves and experiences the world. There is a fundamental value to creating and living in partnership with the fecund stream of creativity that undergirds all of life. It is sustaining, healing, and allows growth and transformation. I felt my heart open from making this piece. How could I go on without this dear conversation?

No One Here but Him*
by Rumi, Trans. by Andrew Harvey

Watching my hand; He is moving it.
Hearing my voice; He is speaking…
Walking from room to room —
No one here but Him. *If I could alter today's poem, I would exchange the word "him" for "them". I don’t think gender comes into this

self-portrait on the occasion of my birthday, Monotype of the Day #339

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On my birthday, I thought a self-portrait would be appropriate. Birthday's are a good time for self reflection. It's been a tough year filled with challenges and transitions, but I'm pleased to report I'm still here, happily working, and feeling grateful. The obstacles of this year have helped me grow and softened and opened my heart. Difficulties can be an opportunity for growth. My feeling is, if I have to go through it, I might as well use it as a vehicle for internal transformation. I want to make my dark pits into mines for gold. I want to be the hero of my story, not the victim. Of course, this is not always an easy thing to do and it is made immeasurably easier by the support of my friends and family. I've said this before, but would not be here today without all of you. My gratitude knows no bounds. xoxo

Love After Love
by Derek Walcott

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door,
in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread.
Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

Flow, Monotype of the Day #338

I hope everyone had a happy Father's Day! xoxo

Effortlessly
by Mechthild of Magdeburg, translated by Jane Hirshfield

Effortlessly,
Love flows from God into man,
Like a bird
Who rivers the air
Without moving her wings.
Thus we move in His world
One in body and soul,
Though outwardly separate in form.
As the Source strikes the note,
Humanity sings --
The Holy Spirit is our harpist,
And all strings
Which are touched in Love
Must sound.

https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/M/MechthildofM/Effortlessly/index.html From Women In Praise of the Sacred https://amzn.to/2W9x1xz

Moonlight, Monotype of the Day #337

I discovered a fix for my stiff ink. Now that I’ve solved that, I look forward to playing with mixing color more. These inks are highly pigmented and the colors are so strong I can physically feel them. It will be powerful to explore that a little more, however, my work doesn’t always cooperate with my plans so we shall see! In the meantime, I’m continuing to chip away at documenting my prints. It’s maddening to take so much time from working, but it has to be done. Resistance is futile. 😊

Tonight’s poem is by Kobayashi Isa, trans. Robert Hass

Full moon;
My ramshackle hut
Is what it is

xoxo
PS Just a little geekiness here for Star Trek fans, I just quoted the Borg and when I wrote the poet’s name below, I saw it was Kobayashi, as in Kobayashi Maru! A funny synchronicity 😊

the artist is sustained, Monotype of the Day #335

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I literally felt revived by the red from yesterday, almost like it was blood coursing in my veins. Tomorrow I may need to explore it more. We shall see... Tonight's image put me in mind of this poem from the Tao Te Ching. The creative flow passes through an artist, nourishing and healing as it continues on it's way. Artists learn over time to submit to it's call, not to grasp and control but to allow it to unfold. Making art is about giving, not possessing. The sage in this poem is a good model for the artist to aspire to.

Tao Te Ching #2
by Lao Tzu, Trans Sam Hamill

Beauty and ugliness have one origin.
Name beauty, and ugliness is.
Recognizing virtue recognizes evil.

Is and is not produce one another.
The difficult is born in the easy,
long is defined by short, the high by the low.
Instrument and voice achieve one harmony.
Before and after have places.

That is why the sage can act without effort
and teach without words,
nurture things without possessing them,
and accomplish things without expecting merit:

only one who makes no attempt to possess it
cannot lose it.

the egg, Monotype of the Day #334

Experimenting with different ways of working the new ink. I'm still struggling with the stiffness. It's inhibiting my spontaneity. Trying to get some of that back with this print. I have to say it's making me feel a bit cranky, it's like having a spat with your spouse. But I know there's a light at the end of the tunnel, I just have to keep at it.

I stand and look in the dark under a cloud
by Walt Whitman

I stand and look in the dark under a cloud
But I see in the distance where the sun shines,
I see the thin haze on the tall white steeples of the city,-
I see the glistening of the waters in the distance.

the rose, Monotype of the Day #333

Tonight I have a new green and a new blue. It's always good for the soul to try new things. And 333, what a satisfyingly symmetrical number! I'm rapidly coming up on a year of prints. I've been trying to photograph this body of work for several months. The learning curve has been steep. I keep thinking I have everything right only to find I've miss another detail. However, I think I've finally figured it out. I photographed about a half of the pieces today. It was truly an experience to see so much of this year again and how much the monotypes have evolved from where I started. I really felt a deep sense of power of working and not giving up. I have been transformed by this process and I felt filled up viewing the results even as I was doing one of the least fun tasks for an artist. I feel endless gratitude as an artist to The Artist who is the source of all creativity. I love this poem about the Source within us.

The Path of Amazement
by Seyyid Seyfullah Nizamoglu, trans. Jennifer Ferraro and Latif Bolat

I cannot say who it is I am I am amazed, I am amazed!

I cannot call this self ‘myself’ I am amazed, I am amazed!

Who is in my eyes seeing?
Who is in my heart enduring?
Who is inhaling and exhaling? I am amazed, I am amazed!

Who is speaking with my tongue?
Who is listening with my ears?
Who is understanding with my mind? I am amazed, I am amazed!

Who is stepping with these feet?
Who is tasting with my mouth?
Who is chewing and who swallowing? I am amazed, I am amazed!

Who holds these riches in his hand?
Who is the one throwing them away?
Who is buying and who selling? I am amazed, I am amazed!

Why is there life coursing below my skin?
Why are my eyes bloodshot from crying?
Why this religion, why this faith? I am amazed, I am amazed!

O Seyyid Nizamoglu, hear this:
Everything comes from the One.
Abandon yourself to this mighty beauty I am amazed, I am amazed!

everything is coming up roses, Monotype of the Day #332

I'm not satisfied with my green. The options are limited. I've ordered a different blue and yellow so we shall see. On the bright side though, after releasing a lot of difficult experiences through my prints the past few days, something new has bloomed. The emptier an artist can become, the more they can be filled.

I believe in all that has never yet been spoken
by Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy

I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.
I want to free what waits within me
so that what no one has dared to wish for

may for once spring clear
without my contriving.

If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,
but this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river,
no forcing and no holding back,
the way it is with children.

Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
these deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing you as no one ever has,

streaming through widening channels
into the open sea.