midnight, Monotype of the Day #361

I noticed my figures for the last 3 days have all been kneeling in prayer. It's unusual to make the same pose so many days in a row. Usually unusual things are precious and meaningful if we take the time to investigate. I meditated on my repeated poses and this print is what came. I know I've posted Mary Oliver's poem Prayer before, but it gets to the heart of this print. There is a deep silence, a quietness, which is essential to making art. It has been an incredibly busy few weeks and as much as I love being in the world, my artist soul still craves the emptiness from which new work is born. I am on a quest to find the balance between silence and sound.

Praying
By Mary Oliver

It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which another voice may speak.

fishing, Monotype of the Day #360

I put it all into the print tonight. I am empty of words.

The Drop and the Sea
by Kabir, trans. Andrew Harvey

I went looking for Him
And lost myself;
The drop merged with the Sea --
Who can find it now?

Looking and looking for Him
I lost myself;
The Sea merged with the drop --
Who can find it now?

by the light of the moon, Monotype of the Day #359

Interesting, I'm still learning so much with this new ink. This was a blue black ink that I mixed and the paper turned it green. That's the adventure of making art. You never know what will happen. Happy surprises abound!

Today I had a really lovely studio visit, a nice couple. They purchased one of my favorite prints (I'll post the picture tomorrow) and when they left I noticed I had a huge thick swatch of dark ink on my upper lip. Basically I had given myself a Hitler mustache. Oy, is really the only word that adequately describes the feeling! Of course I was mortified. But then I reflected on the kindness they showed me in not mentioning it. Instead of beating myself up, I took their example and practiced kindness toward myself. The mortification (mostly 😊) turned to laughter. So many times in life we go to self-blame and miss the opportunity for kindness. Kindness really changes everything. Could I have made the same print tonight, if I was still giving myself a hard time? I doubt it.

Poem by Dogen

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.
The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.
Although its light is wide and great,
The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.
The whole moon and the entire sky
Are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.

Peace, Monotype of the Day #358

After finishing photographing all my prints, I've moved to the next phase- sorting and inventory. It's an interesting process to revisit my work. I find that some images repeat. They evolve, but some same core structure is there. This is true of tonight's print. Several years ago I made a similar series. At first I was bothered, but realized this image is a key to unlocking certain feelings in me, in this case peace. Some of the images that come through are an expression of my feelings and some, probably most, are a message, a transfer of energy and they change me. I needed this image tonight and definitely am more at peace since making it. Although some pieces are more successful than others as works of art, they all play a roll in my own growth and healing. When I see an image has evolved, I take heart. Progress is being made even if it hasn't yet shown up outside my work. This brings me a great deal of peace, knowing I've found my place and my work is progressing.

Wild Geese
By Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

xo

Found, Monotype of the Day #357

I am trying to clear my mind. I have been pushing to get all my prints catalogued, my website updated (coming soon) and complete a number artistic housekeeping items. It's a different part of the brain. So tonight I thought for a brief and sublime second I had photographed every print in my studio. But then I found one I had missed and it was so disappointing. Not that it matters really because I just went to my plate a made another. I would have had all my prints photographed for a total of an hour. These silly things the mind gets fixated on! So I knew I had to recenter and connect to what really matters. I love tonight's poem. xoxo

Moments of Joy
By Denise Levertov

A scholar takes a room on the next street,
the better to concentrate on his unending work, his word,
his world. His grown children
feel bereft. He comes and goes while they sleep.
But at times it happens a son or daughter
wakes in the dark and finds him sitting
at the foot of the bed
in the old rocker: sleepless
i his old coat, gazing
into invisible distance, but clearly there to protect
as he had always done. The child springs up and flings
arms about him, presses
a cheek to his temple, taking him by surprise,
and exclaims, 'Abba!' - the old, intimate name
from the days of infancy.
And the old scholar, the father,
is deeply glad to be found.
That's how it is, Lord, sometimes:
You seek, and I find.

the window, Monotype of the Day #356

It's very late. I've fallen off the sleep wagon, but only temporarily for a beautiful holiday night of family bonding. I won't say much more because sleep is calling except I love tonight's poem. This daily print making process has revealed so much to me that is really hard to put into words. I hope some of what I feel and experience in this intimate conversation between artist (me) and the Universal Artist, source of all creativity, spills over to you. xo

This work is paired with by "[Of all that God has shown me]" by Mechtild of Magdeburg, trans. Jane Hirshfield

the artist is alive, Monotype of the Day #355

Ten days to one year! I'm feeling excited about day 365 even though I have no plans to stop my daily prints. I've already pre-sold my one year print. This makes me feel some pressure but, I am determined to treat it like any other day. We shall see what happens. 😊 Today a piece to welcome the holiday. Wishing everyone a beautiful holiday filled with connection, joy and love.

xoxo

the whispering moon, Monotype of the Day #354

Feeling more relaxed than last night! Something interesting came up while working. I had the urge to put the large circle on my image again. Immediate resistance came up, "people will think I'm repeating myself". I almost didn't notice it at first. Luckily, I have a practice of sitting quietly before my empty plate and opening to the inner messages of where to go. The circle kept coming up. It is so important for me to listen deeply and act upon the direction received. If I had let my ego rule and worried about the perception of others, this image and it's message would have been lost. It was important for me to experience this message, something shifted inside. I felt healed. Maybe, hopefully, it's meaningful to someone else too, but that is out of my hands. I wish my work to be like a jar overflowing into the world with the energy of healing and transformation I feel while working, just and the Universal creative energy overflows into me. But I can't know the result of my work, only the process. So, back to the studio ... 😊

From moon wreathed
by Matsuo Basho, Trans. Stryck

From moon wreathed
bamboo grove,
cuckoo song. -

the artist is frustrated, Monotype of the Day #353

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

dreaming, Monotype of the Day #352

My mind feels empty of so much of the muck that filled it for so many years and I am grateful. When did that happen? I think it is a combination of showing up everyday in my studio to work (a type of meditation) and my meditation practice, which though sporadic at times has been part of my life for many years. There is so much to just showing up. You can show up for years to what feels like no results and then bam, one day it clicks. Our conscious mind is aware of so little of what is really going on under the surface. All winter the earth rests for spring. It's hard to see the same process in our own lives, but it is there. So I will continue to have faith in my own process even when it make no sense, as is often the case, and keep showing up. Getting the sleep (that elusive friend) I need will come.

When They Sleep
by Rolf Jacobsen, trans. Robert Hedin

All people are children when they sleep.
there's no war in them then.
They open their hands and breathe
in that quiet rhythm heaven has given them.
They pucker their lips like small children
and open their hands halfway,
soldiers and statesmen, servants and masters.
The stars stand guard
and a haze veils the sky,
a few hours when no one will do anybody harm.
If only we could speak to one another then
when our hearts are half-open flowers.
Words like golden bees
would drift in.
-- God, teach me the language of sleep.

the face, Monotype of the Day #351

I had a really lovely day today with a dear old friend. We visited a botanical garden and I was reminded how important it is to step outside of the busyness of life and feel a different pace, trees and plants move to the slow creep of deep unwavering purpose. It's renewing and offers comfort that everything will find its time and place, even and not limited to an artist finding the time to sleep at night! 🙂

The Bright Field
by R. S. Thomas

I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realize now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

the clock, Monotype of the Day #350

I wasn't happy with yesterday's image so I reworked it today. Even though, I'm trying to stretch myself by using the grey, I need the bright colors. They give me life. It's like a physical craving. So I compromised here and used some grey and some red. I feel happier.😊. The past few days, I've been looking at why I often deny myself these critical moments of rest and non activity which are so essential to the creative process. The hands of the clock have faded from yesterday and my image is done a few hours earlier than usual. This is progress. Change is good.

tick tock, Monotype of the Day #349

Interesting evening. I was so determined to go to sleep early and stop working after midnight, but as you can see this did not happen. I have many, many excuses, but I won't bore you with my "stories". Instead I am thinking deeply about the cost to the creative process. Busyness is poison to art. Emptiness, moments of spaciousness and boredom are essential. Although we flatter ourselves that we have such great ideas, truly all that comes is a gift that we filter through our beautifully imperfect forms. Tonight's poem is one that has always brought me solace when I was held back from working, but now I find it is also a message about the importance of down time and in my case sleep. Just a note on tonight's print before the poem. I am so much more comfortable with bright colors. It's really interesting how easily we stick to something that was successful in the past. Comfort is another enemy of art so I am pushing myself to try and make friends with grey 🙂

Gitanjali #81
by Rabindranath Tagore

On many an idle day have I grieved over lost time. But it is never lost, my lord. Thou hast taken every moment of my life in thine own hands. Hidden in the heart of things thou art nourishing seeds into sprouts, buds into blossoms, and ripening flowers into fruitfulness. I was tired and sleeping on my idle bed and imagined all work had ceased. In the morning I woke up and found my garden full with wonders of flowers.

xo

contemplation, Monotype of the Day #348

The luxury and problem of my old ink is it never dried. I loved coming to work on a dirty plate with ghost images smeared into it. It was a beautiful source of inspiration. The new ink must be cleaned up everyday, something that goes completely against my nature! 🙂 Greeting an empty plate is more work and requires more contemplation. It's okay though, I stand before the plate and try to mirror its emptiness. This is good practice for other moments in life.

We are the mirror as well as the face in it
by Rumi, Trans Coleman Barks & John Moyne

We are the mirror as well as the face in it.
We are tasting the taste this minute
of eternity. We are pain
and what cures pain, both. We are
the sweet, cold water and the jar that pours.

the artist has heart, Monotype of the Day #347

I struggled with tonight’s print. It’s been a very busy few days and I found it physically arduous to make. I wonder if you can see that in the print? The ebb and flow, easy and struggle, are part of the process. It’s important that seems impossible to fulfill because it inspires you to keep going during the ebbs. I think of this poem by Rumi which expresses such a gigantic wish for his work:

My Work is
By Rumi, trans. Barks and Moyne

My work is to carry this love
As comfort for those who long for you,
To go everywhere you’ve walked
And gaze at the pressed-down dirt.

How that desire must have propelled him forward and cushioned his downs, and, in the end he did accomplish his goal. The take away is dream big and let that dream carry you like a river safely through the rapids. The artist must keep working and and trust in the value of their own process.