the keyhole, Monotype of the Day #422

Day 57 of Year 2

I'm thinking of Alice in Wonderland tonight. Specifically, when she found a key to a door which when opened revealed a tiny passage into a beautiful garden. She was too big to enter so she had to go through many changes to get in. First she grew very large and then she shrunk down very small. It's a wonderful illustration of how much we sometimes have to change to reach our deepest desires.


I'm still waiting to see what's beyond my keyhole, but I'm excited that it has finally appeared after several days of individuals key images. Maybe 6 months ago an image similar to tonight's peaked through. That happens, great shifts in energy are often foreshadowed and something is definitely shifting. What will tomorrow bring?

Excerpt from Chapter One of Alice in Wonderland

by CS Lewis

"Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid glass; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice's first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas! either the locks were too large, or the key was too small, but at any rate it would not open any of them. However, on the second time round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high: she tried the little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted!

Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head though the doorway;"

https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/alice-I.html

Something is Afoot, Monotype of the Day #420

Day 55 of Year 2

Something is afoot and I'm looking forward to finding out what it is. This is the adventurous part of art, the not knowing but trusting the process anyway. Just keep showing up in the studio and say yes... Yes

Yes
By William Stafford

It could happen any time, tornado,
earthquake, Armageddon. It could happen.
Or sunshine, love, salvation.

It could, you know. That’s why we wake
and look out — no guarantees
in this life.

But some bonuses, like morning,
like right now, like noon,
like evening.

From The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems
https://amzn.to/2UIt6WD

it's a mystery, Monotype of the Day #418

Day 53 of Year 2

Many of my images have to do with listening. One of my favorite poets, Jane Hirshfield said "... the feeling I have about poem-writing (is) that it is always an exploration, of discovering something I didn't already know. Who I am shifts from moment to moment, year to year. What I can perceive does as well. A new poem peers into mystery, into whatever lies just beyond the edge of knowable ground." I think this applies to visual art too. When a core image repeats over and over even with all the variations, "The Artist" (the creative source) is trying to send a message to "the artist" (me) but it's "just beyond the edge of knowable ground" as Hirshfield puts it. So I have to grow and expand my edges to encompass new ground. Each time this imagery comes through it has evolved which echoes my internal evolution. One day the image will stop coming through all together because it's message and energy of change it brings will have been fully received.

woman, Monotype of the Day #417

Day 52 of Year 2

This is my son's last night at home for a while, he's off to college tomorrow so no commentary and a quick print. I experimented with soap on a plate with dried out ink. I like the effect. The plate is one I cut in half for printing on top of other prints. I love the misshapen, jaggedness of the edges. Filing it away for future use. xo

echoing hands, Monotype of the Day #416

Day 51 of Year 2

There was a lot of activity tonight getting my son prepared to go back to college. I had less time than I'd like for tonight's print so I worked on my smaller plates. As an artist it's important to accept the ups and downs and not get thrown by the downs. Last night was such a high and all day I looked forward to my studio time, but it was much shorter than I expected. If you are married to product and outcome, these little disappointments can grow into major frustrations. If, instead, you strive to be fully in the process, when the world doesn't conspire to give you what you want it's just a hiccup because tomorrow is another day. And on the plus side, at least I got the reflection and plate reversal right. Now that I conquered that hurdle I have a choice of which way to do it. Take that dyslexia! 😊

the echo, Monotype of the Day #415

Day 50 of Year 2

I was upset about this two plate print when I first made it. (Swipe for details shots) The concept was the bottom plate would be a distorted mirror image of the top, but I did not execute the idea as it was received. The mix of dyslexia (even if mild) and printmaking is challenging to say the least. Prints are already reversed when they come off the plate. So reversing a reversed print, well, I'm already confused just talking about it! 😊 So because I'm disappointed with my execution of the idea, I can't judge whether the print is successful visually. It was, however, hugely successful as a vehicle for transformation. I felt something click on while making this print, a physical sensation. For the last couple weeks, I've been dissatisfied with my work, like I was controlling it too much or there was a barrier to progressing. Whatever the energy was that washed through as I worked today broke that barrier. I don't know how this internal shift will unfold, but change is afoot! I have a feeling it will manifest in my larger works which I am preparing for my show at Clerestory Fine Art in January (stay tuned for details!) Tomorrow I am hoping to try this concept again, but we shall see what the creative energy has in mind.

You and Art
By William Stafford

Your exact errors make a music
that nobody hears.
Your straying feet find the great dance,
walking alone.
And you live on a world where stumbling
always leads home.

Year after year fits over your face—
when there was youth, your talent
was youth;
later, you find your way by touch
where moss redeems the stone;

and you discover where music begins
before it makes any sound,
far in the mountains where canyons go
still as the always-falling, ever-new flakes of snow.

From Ask Me, 100 essential poems https://amzn.to/2NJzvPN

Hidden & the swimmer, Monotype of the Day #414

Day 49 of Year 2


Tonight I did a bunch a prints, but I thought posting the reworked ghost images from last night's plates would be most interesting. Yesterday, I used two plates, one to create a landscape and the other to print a figure over it. Tonight, on the landscape plate, I rerolled different colored inks over sections but left much of the same structure. I barely touched the figurative plate. Honestly I was mainly trying to get the extra ink off before cleaning. Interestingly, more often than not, a ghost print is better than a first pull. Expectations are so much lower because there is already a good print and you can really let it fly. Knowing that if you ruin it, it's not a great loss turns your brain off and gives great freedom.


It's always such an adventure to peel the paper off the plate and see a ghost print. You never know what you will get. The ink dictates things. During the first pull, a lot of the detail and artist's mark making has been obscured. The extra ink is removed and what's left is just the essential, stripped of much of the artist's intent. It's the ink that wanted to stay but still has plans and something to say. The partial stripping of the artist's intent is a lesson and a reminder that the artist is a window for creativity to pass into the world. We contribute, we are partners, but what comes through is an eternal energy of change meant to transform the artist as much as the viewer. Ghost prints subdue the artist's ego and remind us that we are "the artist", not "The Artist". Every moment spent creating is a gift from "The Artist". Hidden (Plus bonus print- the swimmer)

My Hut
by Issa (Japan 1763-1827), Trans. Stryk & Ikemoto

My hut,
thatched
with morning glories.

from Zen Poetry https://amzn.to/2NPaXF0

reflections, Monotype of the Day #413

Day 48 of Year 2

Really focusing on play and releasing all expectations of a finished product tonight. This means not letting a possible future (a finished piece of art) influence the present moment. It's a challenge to stay in the now. It's difficult not to worry if what I am doing will negatively influence the outcome of my piece. But once I get into the flow, there is so much freedom and so much spaciousness. This is the space where transformation happens.


Oceans
By Juan Ramon Jimenez, Trans Robert Bly

I have a feeling that my boat
has struck, down there in the depths,
against a great thing. And nothing
happens! Nothing…Silence…Waves… –Nothing happens? Or has everything happened,
and are we standing now, quietly, in the new life?

from News of the Universe: Poems of Twofold Consciousness, Edited by Robert Bly. https://amzn.to/2NNzGtH

Untitled, Monotype of the Day #412

Day 47 of Year 2

There was an artist lead rebellion in my studio tonight! I just decided I wouldn't clean my plates, my palette, or my breyers. It's well past due. Usually I clean up every other day because otherwise everything gets sticky and uncooperative. Which was true tonight, but I enjoyed the fight and some interesting textures appeared. Sticky, glumpy ink has it's uses. Tonight was about fun. Maybe I'll clean up tomorrow maybe I won't. We shall see! xo

PS I'm also taking the day off from titles. Titles can kiss my rear! (At least for today ☺️)

so much fuss about nothing, Monotype of the Day #411

Day 46 of Year 2

This is a very quick monotype made today as demo during a studio visit. I decided to post it because there is a different quality to a print done without expectation of results. When I do a demo, I always say, "This is just a quick print to show you how it’s done, I'm not really trying to make a finished image." And then low and behold, more often than not something worth saving is revealed. Even though I focus much more on process than product in my studio, it's really hard to fully abandon the desire to make a "good print". That desire alone changes the natural flow. I'm not judging. I don't know whether this is good or bad, but in my demo prints where muscle rather than mind prevails, it feels like there is more of a raw connection behind the veil.

the fountain, Monotype of the Day #410

Day 45 of Year 2

I am feeling unsatisfied in the studio this week. This happens, it's part of the creative process designed to keep an artist growing. I still feel immense gratitude for each monotype that comes through and I really like this print. It's not that, it's more that making this week's prints felt too safe and easy. There is a tension between experiencing flow or being "in the zone" and the discomfort of exploring new territory and the potential for failure. The potential for failure is so important to keep the work alive and energetic. Safety is the enemy of art. Patience, I tell myself again, have faith and keep working. I am delving for the eternal fountain of creativity deep inside and those who seek will find.


The Fountain
By Denise Levertov

Don’t say, don’t say there is no water
to solace the dryness at our hearts.
I have seen

the fountain springing out of the rock wall
and you drinking there. And I too
before your eyes

found footholds and climbed
to drink the cool water.

The woman of that place, shading her eyes,
frowned as she watched — but not because
she grudged the water,

only because she was waiting
to see we drank our fill and were
refreshed.

Don’t say, don’t say there is no water.
That fountain is there among its scalloped
green and gray stones,

it is still there and always there
with its quiet song and strange power
to spring in us,

up and out through the rock

the blessing, Monotype of the Day #409

Day 44 of Year 2

The Jar with The Dry Rim
By Rumi

The mind is an ocean … and so many worlds
are rolling there, mysterious, dimly seen!
And our bodies? Our body is a cup, floating
on the ocean; soon it will fill, and sink …
Not even one bubble will show where it went down.

The spirit is so near that you can’t see it!
But reach for it … don’t be a jar
full of water, whose rim is always dry.
Don’t be the rider who gallops all night
and never sees the horse that is beneath him.

gestation, Monotype of the Day #408

Day 43 of Year 2

Have patience, have patience. Everything has it's own time. Something is brewing. Waiting for things to unfold is part of a healthy studio practice. Sometimes it seems that time is wasting away only to find later that it was just a gestation period and all that angst was for naught. Have patience. I say this for my own benefit. Have patience.

This work is paired with "Commentary Inflection: Invented Form" by Jane Hirshfield.

Read it here: https://sharonsinger.ca/poem.php?poem_id=76

From Given sugar, Given Salt