The Artist and the artist, Monotype of the Day #899

The Artist and the artist
Day 167 of year 3 (Total project days 899)

Tomorrow is the final day of this project in this form. In the beginning of the project, I made many prints each day and chose one to post with no commentary. As my project progressed and the commentary and poetry became more and more important, I did fewer prints each day. It worked because I was in a rhythm and I never really left the flow from one day to the next. Today I slipped back into making many prints. It was so freeing. There is a different quality to working this way. It's not that one is better or worse, but the daily prints are more like a dairy, like dipping a cup into a stream. The multiple print sessions are like mining to tap a deep well. I am looking forward to mining for a while and I'll be posting the results each Monday on "Monotype of the Day Monday". I am filled with gratitude for all of you who have taken this journey with me and supported my work with your comments, likes, and purchases. xo Sybil.

Heavy Secrets
By Dorothy Walters

You and I carry heavy secrets within.
This is why our breasts have grown so large.
Already they are overflowing,
ready to fill the world’s waiting mouth.

From A Cloth of Fine Gold https://amzn.to/34QewCH

at peace, Monotype of the Day #898

Day 166 of year 3 (Total project days 898)

Was it Light?
By Theodore Roethke

Was it light?
Was it light within?
Was it light within light?
Stillness becoming alive,
Yet still?

A lively understandable spirit
Once entertained you.
It will come again.
Be still.
Wait.

From Poetry for the Spirit https://amzn.to/3hjq72a

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

at peace, Monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald

the gift, Monotype of the Day #897

Day 165 of year 3 (Total project days 897)

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

the gift, monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald

the language of dawn, Monotype of the Day #896

Day 164 of year 3 (Total project days 896)

Wishing everyone a beautiful day whether it's a Merry Christmas or a lazy day off. May you feel loved and content. xo

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

the language of dawn, monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald

incubate, Monotype of the Day #895

Day 163 of year 3 (Total project days 895)

This is a tough time of year to finish up this project because it's so busy. Today was completely filled with the holiday and I didn't get into the studio until 12:00am. We went around town spreading holiday cheer. (Photo attached.) It was a wonderful day. I wish you love, cheer and a very happy holiday whether you are celebrating this week or just enjoying the days off. Until tomorrow. xo

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

egg head, Monotype of the Day #894

Day 162 of year 3 (Day 894)

7 days of this project to go. Yesterday I got in my head a bit so today I tried to stop grasping an allow more space. I'm just going to breathe and let this image be.

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

egg head, Monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald

holding, Monotype of the Day #893

Day 161 of year 3

I struggled tonight in the studio. Studio practice requires spaciousness. Today was very busy and completely lacking in that quality. Some days are like that but an artist has to fight for emptiness. Our culture is obsessed with busyness and busyness kills creativity. Tomorrow I will make more space. xo

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

incubation, Monotype of the Day #892

Day 160 of year 3, Total project days 892

“And I am the egg that surrounds and nurtures the seed of the God in me.”
-Carl Jung, The Red Book

Today I woke up with my head full of ideas for new projects. I got out my idea sketchbook which I haven't done for a while. It feels good.

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

a new dawn, Monotype of the Day #891

Day 159 of year 3

Day 891. Today I'm feeling optimistic about my future projects. I suspect my sentiments about the change in this project will yo-yo this week. But there is already more space in my head, more land to plant. I feel emptier than I have in months. It's a wonderful feeling. I also have the seed of an idea about documenting my upcoming sleep journey for an art project. So one door closes and another opens, filled with mystery and promise. Soon I will step in.

The Broken Ground
By Wendell Berry

The opening out and out,
body yielding body:
the breaking
through which the new
comes, perching
above its shadow
on the piling up
darkened broken
old husks of itself:
bud opening to flower
opening to fruit opening
to the sweet marrow
of the seed
— taken from
what was, from
what could have been.
What is left
is what is.

From The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry https://amzn.to/3pcWEtF

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

landing, Monotype of the Day #890

Day 158 of year 3

“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

Day 890, ten days left in this project. I announced the ending early so the challenges that come up at its close could be documented as part of the whole.

It has been a strange day. Even though I know this is the right decision, I feel really uneasy. Everyday for so long has been structured around my daily print. The looming loss of this structure is both exciting and scary. And he internal pressure is mounting to make these last days count with good prints. I can really see how this project has trained me though. I recognized this pressured feeling, the need to judge my work, the need to produce work people will "like", but it no longer fazes or controls me. I acknowledge it and move on. This is a major lesson I've learned over the past few years. It's not for me to judge my work or worry. My job is simply to show up and work, to throw myself deeply into the conversation between artist and Artist, and embrace the mystery at the heart of the creative process. The world will sort out the rest.

Tonight's piece is the ghost print from last night on top of a ghost print from last week. I fully intended to add another layer, but it was clear this print was complete. Amazingly, it seems I've learned to listen (finally)! I guess the lesson for this week is knowing when to stop.

xo Sybil

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

listen!, Monotype of the Day #889

Day 157 of year 3

It's time, The Monotype of the Day Project is coming to an end in this form. Today is day 889, day 900 will be my last day. I will continue to post a monotype once a week (and more if I feel moved). Here on Patreon I will continue to post pictures of what I'm working on in the studio most days along with commentary as seems appropriate and updates on the progress of my book.

When I woke up this morning, it was clear something within me had shifted. I have been desirous of change in my work for a while now, I want to go deeper, to reflect more light, to touch truths unknown. It finally came to me that the root of my block is something I've struggled with for most of my life, sleep. This is a critical issue for both my health and my art. Currently a large portion of my day is taken up with health related activities designed to keep me going. I describe myself as a rickety car that needs plenty of tinkering to keep on the road! That's the day, but then at night I get an average of 3-5 hours of sleep which undermines everything I've done all day. Strange to think I never realized this, but the mind can justify a lot. So for the next 3 months after day 900, my focus will be sleep. Without the daily deadline of my monotype project, I will be able to work in the studio and stop when I need to. I am certain sleep will fundamentally transform my artistic practice. Art and the physical world are inextricably linked. By not sleeping, I resist the natural cycle of life. Resistance blocks the creative flow. Without sleep, I am too tired to be fully present and to listen deeply for direction from The Artist. My work will transform with sleep. It will bloom just as a garden blooms after the dark night of winter. I am excited to discover what will happen! I will keep you up to date about the effects of my new plan on my studio practice. I may take some work to transform a life time of bad habits. Thank you for all your support these last 889 days! Lots of love, Sybil

listen!, monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Arcibald

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here. 

filling station 2, Monotype of the Day #888

Day 156 of year 3

888 days, such a lovely round number, curvy and full. I believe in China 8 is considered a very lucky number. I feel lucky to have gotten this far in my monotype of the day project.

Tonight's print is the ghost ink from last night on top of the ghost ink from a few days ago with a few new additions. For some reason, this print makes me happy. Wishing you everything good. xo

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

filling station 2, monotype of the day, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald

filling station, Monotype of the Day #887

Day 155 of year 3

“The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.” – Auguste Rodin, sculptor

The studio is filled with life. Creative, generative, healing energy pulses through filling the artist. The more the artist embraces life and opens to what is happening in the present moment, the more they are filled until the creative flow brims over and spills into the world. The hardest part of the artist's job is to be there, to show up for every up and down, and hold the space for the creative process. Then, the flow will carry them forward and rest with take care of itself.

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

filling station, Monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald

the keyhole, Monotype of the Day #886

Day 154 of year 3

We are all keyholes waiting to be unlocked so our inner light can spill out into the world. Poem below the title.

This work is paired with "The Door" by Jane Hirshfield

Read it here: http://inwardboundpoetry.blogspot.com/2006/10/233-door-jane-hirshfield.html

from The October Palace https://amzn.to/2Ku42kY 

the fire within, Monotype of the Day #885

Day 153 of year 3

Quatrain 359
By Rumi, Trans. Moyne & Barks

Do you think I know what I am doing?
That for one breath or half-breath I belong to myself?
As much as a pen knows what it's writing,
or a ball can guess where it's going next.

From Open Secret https://amzn.to/3gJYnmX

the fire within, monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.