gestation, Monotype of the Day #656

Day 286 of Year 2 (Actually Day 291)

I've been spoiled by having a studio assistant for many years to help me with things that are difficult for my hands to do like tearing paper, making paper clay, and cutting mat chips. I believe I used my last piece of torn paper tonight and all my studio-made materials are running low. I've been working one way for a long time. Obviously, no one can come to my studio for a while so here is a chance to get out of my easy comfort zone and see what happens. I'm looking at this as an opportunity instead of a reason to be cranky. I hope my brain and mood will cooperate! 😊 My love to all those who are sick or suffering. xo

at home, Monotype of the Day #651

Day 281 of Year 2 (Actually Day 286)

I'm really tired today and I barely got this print out, but it feels good to have it done. Life is so different right now, I'm sure you feel this too. Many regular maintenance activities that keep me going, like acupuncture and bodywork, are out and I feel the difference. I also miss my large art studio which is being used for my son's online dance classes. So I am working on embracing and accepting what is actually happening rather than fighting it. Many things are occurring in my house that we all thought could never work, like choreography in the living room, and yet they are. It makes it very clear how deeply the rigidity of our minds has limited us. I am grateful for this lesson. It is one of things I plan to hold onto when we resume life outside of the house once again. My love to all those who are sick or suffering.

The Thirsty Fish
By Kabir, Trans. Robert Bly

I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty.

You don’t grasp the fact that what is most alive of all is inside your own house;
and so you walk from one holy city to the next with a confused look!

Kabir will tell you the truth: go wherever you like, to Calcutta or Tibet;
if you can’t find where your soul is hidden,
for you the world will never be real!

From the Winged Energy of Delight: Poems from Europe, Asia, and the Americas Robert Bly https://amzn.to/2VyRaNK

the key to life, Monotype of the Day #650

Day 280 of Year 2 (Actually Day 285)

I'm really enjoying playing with this new technique so much. This is another double print but with a much subtler underlayer.

What's Inside the Ground
By Rumi, Trans Barks

Whatever gives pleasure is the fragrance
of the Friend. Whatever makes us wonder

comes from that light. What's inside the
ground begins to sprout because you spilled

wine there. What dies in autumn comes up
in spring because this way of saying no

becomes in spring your praise song yes.

From The Soul of Rumi https://amzn.to/2RXUjof
A terrific collection, I highly recommend it!

the key to sleep, Monotype of the Day #649

Day 279 of Year 2 (Actually Day 284)

This image is the reverse of the image from two nights ago. It is yellow ink over blue ink where the older print was blue over yellow. There is definitely more depth in this one, but it still isn't the effect I was hoping for. There will be more experimenting tomorrow I'm sure. By the way, the blue under image here is the ghost print from last night.

restless night, Monotype of the Day #648

Day 278 of Year 2 (Actually Day 283)

Last night I tried doing a print overlaying a dark blue as a face onto a bed of ochre images like the piece above. It didn't turn out as I expected. I thought that since the ochre ink was wet it would bleed through the blue. No such luck, but it did provide an interesting varied subtlety to the piece which a flat underlayer of color does not. Lesson learned. So tonight I decided to do that process in reverse, ochre on top of blue. This piece was supposed to be the blue underlayer but I liked it too much to print on top of it 🙂. Maybe tomorrow I'll take a ghost print and try it with the ochre face as an overlayer as planned. We shall see! This is one of the things that makes art such an adventure. Art materials have plans of their own, they dream and actively partner with the artist. Sometimes our plans sync, sometimes materials will fight us all the way. This complex relationship is a subtext in all material works of art and is essential in grounding the artist. It is the earth calling us back. Our materials silently chant, "though your vision soars high above. you are clay and bound by the frailty of the world."

the key to listening, Monotype of the Day #647

Day 277 of Year 2 (Actually Day 282)

This print has beautiful subtle color but you can't see much of it in this picture. Not every work is internet friendly. So my mind automatically goes to, should I post it? Is my goal to succeed at social media or remain true to my monotype of the day project? My first allegiance is to art and I will not let an outside force dictate or change my work. A large part of this project is to capture whatever happens each day without judgment and help reveal the ups and downs (both inner and outer) that are part of the process of being an artist. It would be easy to augment this piece to look better on screen but it would suffer and I would be changing to the work to please someone else. The act of dulling artistic vision has an insidious effect on an artist. Slowly, change after change, and an artist begins to lose the uniqueness of their voice. This monotype a day project has forced me to learn to stand my ground. So many times photos have not done justice to the work. But, like so many other things in life, I have learned this is just a spiritual muscle that must be built. So I post this image today and hope that sometime you might see the original in person. My love to all those who are sick or suffering. xo

dawn breaks, Monotype of the Day #646

Day 276 of Year 2 (Actually Day 281)

Posting early tonight, well before midnight! I've been at this project for one year and nine months. It's hard not to repeat poems from time to time, but some poems are a joy to repeat.

Thirst
By Mary Oliver

Another morning and I wake with thirst
for the goodness I do not have. I walk
out to the pond and all the way God has
given us such beautiful lessons. Oh Lord,
I was never a quick scholar but sulked
and hunched over my books past the
hour and the bell; grant me, in your
mercy, a little more time. Love for the
earth and love for you are having such a
long conversation in my heart. Who
knows what will finally happen or
where I will be sent, yet already I have
given a great many things away, expect-
ing to be told to pack nothing, except the
prayers which, with this thirst, I am
slowly learning.

From Thirst https://amzn.to/2XImpYh (This was my first book of Mary Oliver poems, a wonderful introduction to her work.)

dream of the sky at night, Monotype of the Day #645

Day 275 of Year 2 (Actually Day 280)

Still playing. I've been exploring this looser technique for the last 4 nights. I'd like to acknowledge a very generous artist, Lisa Pressman. Her style of art is quite different from my own. It is abstract and full of emotion in very beautiful ways. Recently, she did a Facebook live session and I watched her work. I love the way she makes art, working on multiple paintings at once and picking up scraps of paper, leftover paint, etc using them freely with complete trust in her process. It took a while for this to filter into my system but seeing her work helped me be freer and more trusting. I feel like a weight has been lifted. I write this to thank her but also because it is a great example. We all leave footprints in the world and most of us will never know the extent to which our being here matters. If I hadn't written this, Lisa would not know her influence on me. I know you, reading this now, have positively impacted people in ways you will never know. You matter. This is such an importance and difficult lesson for many artists to learn. It requires radical trust. The certitude that the creative process matters though we may never know how. Maybe it changes the artist, maybe it goes into the world and effects someone deeply, the possibilities are vast. The only thing to do is put one foot in front of the other and trust the footprints we leave behind do their work.

blood moon, Monotype of the Day #644

Day 274 of Year 2 (Actually Day 279)

Enjoying the freedom of play the last few days with these layered spaces. I've written about the importance of play to an artist before. When you play you are not judging, you have no expectations, and you are just in the expansive present moment. Judgment makes us small and narrows possibilities. We know this and yet can't stop. The word play is a way of tricking the brain into turning that mental habit off. Really all art making is play. The Artist delights in the artist, the Source of all delight generously spills into the world through so many imperfect earthen vessels.

below the surface, Monotype of the Day #643

Day 273 of Year 2 (Actually Day 278)

Something is ready to shift in my work, but it's below the surface. I can feel it bubbling just out of reach. Often when I hit a rough patch, like the last few weeks, it's because something old needs to crumble to make room for something new. It's uncomfortable to say the least. No one likes to make work they don't feel good about. But every artist will tell you this common experience: they hated their work at the time but looking back, they find it was actually okay and sometimes even good. Our way of seeing is shaped by judgment and expectations. Our inner world has to shift and our narrow sight has to open to bring work to the next level. Change is uncomfortable, letting go of expectations and desires can be painful. But a deep embrace of whatever discomfort we are going through brings deep transformation and healing. This healed energy is what comes through in the new work and elevates it from the old. I know this will come. Patience Sybil, patience.