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

movement, Monotype of the Day #556

556.jpg

Day 186 of Year 2 (Actually Day 191)

I've gone back to my roots tonight, birds have been with me from the start. A self portrait with a bird on my shoulder was my very first painting. They represent creativity coming into the world and I am refilling my creative tank right now. Tomorrow I'm off to the art supply store to refill my physical supplies too. Then I will be all set to dive back in. I'm including a Kabir poem translated by Robert Bly as a reminder to myself. The poem is about seizing your life, living now. My show is up but my work continues. xoxo

Poem by Kabir, trans. Robert Bly

Friend, hope for the Guest while you are alive.
Jump into experience while you are alive!
Think… and think… while you are alive.
What you call ‘salvation’ belongs to the time
before death.

If you don’t break your ropes while you’re alive,
do you think
ghosts will do it after?

The idea that the soul will join with the ecstatic
just because the body is rotten—
that is all fantasy.
What is found now is found then.
If you find nothing now,
you will simply end up with an apartment
in the City of Death.
If you make love with the divine now, in the next life
you will have the face of satisfied desire.

So plunge into the truth, find out who the Teacher is,
believe in the Great Sound!

Kabir says this: When the Guest is being searched for,
it is the intensity of the longing for the Guest
that does all the work.
Look at me, and you will see a slave of that intensity.

From Kabir https://amzn.to/36flzmx

Light, Monotype of the Day #485

Day 119 of Year 2 (Actually Day 120)

This project has become a habit for me, I could no more go to sleep without making my print than I could without brushing my teeth. It makes me think of all the destructive habits I have and gives me hope that new more supportive ones can be formed. The most destructive habit I have right now is going to bed too late. How much more work could I accomplish with a well-rested form? I think it would be considerable. In my mind, staying up will allow me to accomplish more work but in truth I am unconsciously stealing from tomorrow's work energy. This monotype project is slowly waking me up from my unconscious state. I am being schooled and changed each night by the images that come through. I have tried so many things to shift my bad sleep habit, for now I will take the guidance in tonight's image to stop trying and learn to receive. I will set my intention, continue my work, and trust in the Light.

XXXVI, II, 126
By Kabir, Trans. Tagore
Oh Friend, awake and sleep no more!
The night is over and gone, would you . lose you day also?

From Songs of Kabir https://amzn.to/2CrUa48

Reaching, Monotype of the Day #458

Day 92 of Year 2 (Actually Day 93)

The remnants of yesterday's ink were still on my plate this evening. Somehow I just couldn't wipe it away so I guess, tonight is a partial ghost print and a variation on a theme. I am curious about this symbolism so I hope the suspended woman comes up again. The last time she appeared, she was suspended by her feet so I call this a definite improvement!
The past month or so has been a struggle physically, but mercifully things have shifted and I'm feeling much better. My seas have been choppy and I ride the swells up and down. I know well that every down leads to an up, followed by a down, and over and over. That's life, keeping afloat in these swells. But, there is an internal landscape of peace within reach. I find mine in the studio. When I make these images of calm they change my energy. I am not the same person who walked into my studio earlier today. Like water on a stone, these images are slowly wearing away my rough edges and emptying my vessel.

I Laugh When I Hear That The Fish In The Water Is Thirsty
By Kabir, Trans. Ribert 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 https://amzn.to/2q41CiS
There is another translation on the web which is quite different, It's worth looking up if you are touched by this poem

the spotlight, Monotype of the Day #386

Day 21 of Year 2

I had to pry my eyes open to make this one. Busy week and I am sleepy! There was blue ink left on the plate from last night. I couldn't bring myself to remove it, so I included it instead. Normally that would be called a ghost print, but I added black ink in on top so I'll just call it a partial ghost- making it up as I go along. ☺️ Flexibility is key to my process. Traditional printmaking can sometimes be a little rigid. There are rules and ways of doing things that allow for the creation of beautiful prints. But, to be blunt, I suck at following rules. I purposefully make sure my plates aren't squared off and that images make their way off the edges. It's so easy to allow your mind to create boundaries on what you can or cannot do. Mental boundaries are the hardest to fight because we often don't know they are there. One good tip off is when work gets repetitive. Symbols will always repeat in different contexts and with depth of meaning but when the context becomes fixed, then you have problems. I find tackling big problems or reaching for big goals will break mental boxes. Artists need to dream big, it keeps you awake and alive. I'm still having trouble keeping my eyes open so hopefully this is coherent! ☺️ . xo

The Flute
By Kabir, Trans. Robert Bly

Friend, wake up! Why do you go on sleeping?
The night is over— do you want to lose the day
the same way?
Other women who managed to get up early have already found an elephant or a jewel...
so much was lost already while you slept...
and that was so unnecessary!

The one who loves you understood, but you did not.
You forgot to make a place in your bed next to you.
Instead you spent your life playing.
In your twenties you did not grow
because you did not know who your Lord was.
Wake up! Wake up! There's no one in your bed—
He left you during the long night.

Kabir says: The only woman awake is the woman
who has heard the flute!

inner landscape (2), Monotype of the Day #372

372.jpg

Day 6 of Year 2

Again I am reminded that it's not for me to judge my work, judgement only gets in the way. When I put up yesterday's print I felt it was a failure. But more people than usual commented on it and I am happy for the reminder that worrying about product over process is a rabbit hole. It's easy to disappear down that hole and be distracted from the real work at hand. It is impossible that every piece an artist makes resonates with them. Some pieces come though for other people, some pieces are energetic messages almost like a pill meant shift or wake something, some are just clearing out old to make room for new. In a way, it's hubris to demand each work be masterful or even complete to an artist's satisfaction. It's trying to control a process so deep we can't know it's true purpose. Knowing this is freedom. An artist only has to listen to the inner Voice to know when to stop. All pressure to create perfect works of art is gone. Trust the process and what is meant to come will come and some will be perfect. With tonight's piece, my inner voice is telling me there is something else that wants to be said that hasn't come though. Thankfully tomorrow is another day!
I've posted this poem before, but it is too perfect for this piece. (It was also the inspiration for my earthen vessel sculpture series many years back. You can see it on my website : www.sybilarchibald.com)

Within this earthen vessel
by Kabir, Trans. Rabindranath Tagore

Within this earthen vessel are bowers and groves, and within it is the Creator:
Within this vessel are the seven oceans and the unnumbered stars.
The touchstone and the jewel-appraiser are within;
And within this vessel the Eternal soundeth, and the spring wells up.
Kabir says: “Listen to me, my Friend! My beloved Lord is within.”

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?

The Earthen Vessel

Within this earthen vessel are bowers and groves, and within it is the Creator:
Within this vessel are the seven oceans and the unnumbered stars.
The touchstone and the jewel-appraiser are within;
And within this vessel the Eternal soundeth, and the spring wells up.
Kabir says: "Listen to me, my Friend! My beloved Lord is within."

-Kabir

Enough said...

Dreaming of Death: When Art Changes Life

To what shore would you cross, O my heart? There is no traveler
before you, there is no road:
Where is the movement, where is the rest, on that shore?
There is no water; no boat, no boatman, is there;
There is not so much as a rope to tow the boat, nor a man to draw it.
No earth, no sky, no time, no thing, is there: no shore, no ford!
There, there is neither body nor mind: and where is the place
that shall still the thirst of the soul? You shall find naught
in that emptiness.
Be strong, and enter into your own body: for there your foothold
is firm. Consider it well, O my heart! go not elsewhere,
Kabîr says: "Put all imaginations away, and stand fast in that
which you are."
Songs of Kabir Vol. II: XX

It has been quite a while since I have written here. The spiritual changes that took place during my trip to St. Thomas have sent a tidal wave through my life and art work. Perhaps I should say, instead, that the act of making art in St. Thomas, my complete surrender to my process without control has transformed my life dramatically. It seems to be my path that everything that happens in my life is dramatic and I am beginning to make peace with that and enjoy it.I will take me several posts to explain why my life has peeled apart like an onion, but let me start at the beginning with dreaming of death. (Don’t worry, my health is better than it has been in years.)Shortly after my return I had 3 dreams:

1) I was in a large stone church. It was just at dawn and cool and damp inside. In front of me was a heavy stone door. I was told that if I opened the door I would die. I can still here the grinding of stone door against stone floor. I turned away without opening the door and entered into a large room with an open hole in the roof (like the Palladium in Rome). I was told I could go that way too (through the hole) and I hid. When I awoke I was scared.2) A couple weeks later, I dreamed I was racing up, up into the sky, faster and faster. The stars became more and more intense and beautiful. Finally the beauty and speed was so overwhelming I became tearful. Then an opening in the shape of a door appeared in the sky. It was an intense white light against the dark, bejeweled sky. I said to myself, “Ah, I know what that is, but not yet…” Then I slowed down and returned to earth. This time I awoke feeling great with no fear.3) A man whose face I couldn’t see handed me a pocket watch. I looked the face and it was so beautiful, it seemed to encompass the whole sky I had seen in my other dream. I began to get choked up. He said, “You can stay or go, it’s your choice, but I think you should stay and enjoy yourself.” So, I did.

From these dreams, I understand that it is my choice to be here and, more importantly, that I have accomplished everything I need to in this life. The keys words are everything "I need" to accomplish. There maybe more for me to do here, but these tasks will come through guidance, not will.When I allowed my art to lead me completely on St. Thomas, I opened my body to the Divine in a way I never had before. I emptied myself of the need to control. This created vacuum which filled me with Self. Although I have had direct experience of Divine love, most of my connection to God has existed outside of my physical body. Now my connection is integrated into my body and my life. I don’t need anything, I am simply waiting and listening for direction.It is surprising how effective waiting and listening can be. Our culture tells us to go out and push make things happen, “be a go getter”, etc. I am astounded how much more effective listening without an agenda can be.In one short month, the Universe aligned such that my family & I are moving to Florida, we received an offer on our house and secured a new home down south. In my next post I’ll talk more about the ease and grace we have felt during this process and how it was that my life began to peal apart like an onion in the first place. Now that I truly understand surrender and am learning trust. I’ll also have so new pictures of artwork to post.-------------------------3 things I’m grateful for today: My garden, the hot day, some time to myself.