worship & worship ghost print, Monotype of the Day $784

.Day 53 of year 3

Yesterday when we walked in the forest I saw the first colorful leaves of fall on the ground. I had that wistful end of summer feeling and today fall colors have shown up in my prints. Change is inevitable. The seasons turn by. Some change is easy and some is difficult, even unacceptable like illness or death. I have spent a good deal of my life learning to accept the unacceptable. I have been ill since my early 20s and I've missed a lot of things. I've struggled and almost died. But everything that I had to go through changed me for the better and opened my heart. This experience has grown in me a deep and abiding trust in my journey. Through everything I've experienced, there has been a greater purpose. I've learned to do what I can to the best of my abilities and trust that what needs to happen will. What needs to happen and what I want to happen are not always the same thing. Trust goes hand in hand with releasing control. This is a lesson that is also learned in the studio. the artist trusts in their own process, the artist surrenders to The Artist.

opening, Monotype of the Day, Day 773

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Day 41 of year 3

I've been going through all the photos of my older prints for days organizing for my book and the imagery is rubbing off. I feel like I'm covering old ground and it's not so interesting. This is what is coming out however and I will honor it and not resist and I do like this print. But I need to make it more exciting and experimenting with different techniques is just the thing. It brings back a sense of adventure, a critical component of my practice. If I knew what was going to happen each day in my studio, I wouldn't be able to continue. The immediacy of this medium allows the inner world to spill out like wine, it enables the mystery to bleed though. I cherish the surprise, the challenge, the intimacy of these messages to me the artist from The Artist, creative source. Everyday there are new things to learn and new ways to grow. I am grateful.

touched, Monotype of the Day #765

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Day 33 of year 3

When I moved my website this year, I had to move my blog as well. The written content carried over but not the pictures. I've been going through it fixing and reading before I make it live again. Right now I'm in 2009 and I was writing about art and creativity even then. In some ways though the change in me is pretty dramatic. In 2009 I was afraid to post artwork and especially any photos of myself. Clearly those things aren't a problem for me anymore! How to account for the change? I attribute it to two things. One, Illness forced me to sit still and deal with myself, and two, the work. Making art is such a deeply transformative process. I am endlessly grateful to both my illness and The Artist, source of all creativity, for feeding me. It has been a difficult and painful road at times, but though I am more limited physically now, I carried much more internal pain and struggle then. I prefer now. I'll let you know when the blog goes live. xo

the lead, Monotype of the Day #737

Day 6 of Year 3

I feel such.a sense of relief that my two year anniversary is behind me. I didn't realize how much pressure I was putting on myself to define my situation. The same thing happened on my one year anniversary. I built it up in my head so much that once I made it, I sort of fell apart. The first week after was a real struggle in the studio. but I kept at it and eventually that cleared. There are natural ebbs and flows to working and then there are the roadblocks we create in our minds. Meditation, which has unfortunately fallen off my radar lately, helps. Another thing that helps is knowing that you're in your own way and waiting it out, trusting that the creative flow will necessarily wash the mental dross away. More than anything, making art is about trust, trusting the inner messages from The Artist to the artist, trusting your materials, trusting the world with your work, trusting yourself to be authentic and brave, trusting the importance and purpose of working though we may never know why.

Annunciation, Monotype of the Day #718

Day 348 of Year 2 (Actually Day 353)

Something a little simpler today after so many layers yesterday. It feels like a cleansing breath. For many years I almost exclusively made images of the Annunciation. Then a critique group challenged me to express the same ideas without the religious iconography. This opened a new world. I was using these symbols as a crutch and releasing them caused my work to blossom. Still, the Annunciation continues to fascinate. It contains many levels and meanings and among them, I find a lesson on how divine creativity enters the world. The gift of the creative spark is given to us to nurture. We are not its source, merely its vessel. This is a wonderfully ego-deflating notion. Understanding my small part in the creative process releases pressure. I trust my work has purpose I likely will never know. I express what is given and then go back to work. Everything else is not my concern.

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.

rooted, Monotype of the Day #633

Day 263 of Year 2 (Actually Day 268)

Well our new puppy has absorbed every second of time- free or otherwise. Also today my son, who has been in precautionary quarantine in my basement for two weeks, emerged. It was a VERY busy day. So strange that such a crazy and intense day brings such a centered image. This large moon, barren treescape, and color have been coming up over and over. I've been experimenting with different techniques each night. Last night's process was by far the most successful, at least for me, but tonight's is the calmest. Images work on different levels. There is the external level for viewers of my work and the internal level which is a private message to me, The Artist speaking tenderly to the artist. Not every image speaks deeply to me, but this one is particularly charged. The peaceful color and rooted person are directing me, stay calm, find your center. Though the trees are barren, to me they appear simply to be waiting for signs of spring. Patience will bear fruit.

voyager, Monotype of the Day #585

Day 215 of Year 2 (Actually Day 220)

Last night I dreamed I was climbing a ladder. I don't dream very often these days, so when it happens it's significant. In September 2018, near the beginning of this project, I was making a lot of ladders and there is an image similar to this one. This one has keys though, the image has evolved. These evolved images resonate with special energy, they are tender personal messages from The Artist to the artist. I always come back to the alchemical saying, "As above so below, as within so without, as the universe so the soul". Everywhere I look I see cycles, ebb and flow, winter and summer, night and day, it only makes sense to see it in the studio as well. I am heartened when I see evolution in an older image. Growth and change are at the heart of life and I am happy to be carried along in that rhythmic pulse.

highlight, Monotype of the Day #579

Day 209 of Year 2 (Actually Day 214)

Tonight, I used my regular-sized plate for the initial print, then a smaller plate (3" x5") to continue printing layer after layer on top. It was fun to do and gives a very different effect. Escaping ruts and well worn techniques such an important part of making art. Growth and change are the essential. Even though I've liked many of my recent prints, I felt I had stopped taking risks and the artist (me) hadn't been listening to universal The Artist. In this print, I am seeking to reconnect.
I am definitely not a poet, but occasionally some words come to me and I attempt to mimic a real poem.


the artist Waits
By Sybil Archibald
quiet
and still

a tattered glove waits
for the fiery hand of
The Artist.

the artist is all eyes, Monotype of the Day #520

Day 154 of Year 2 (Actually Day 155)

Today an artist friend of mine sent me a really interesting inverted image of my print last night. I loved the way it looked so I set out to make it tonight. Of course when I got to my plate, The Artist had other plans for the artist (me) and this is what came out- something totally completely different! That's why making art is such an adventurous calling, you just never know.

Quatrain 1359
By Rumi, Trans Moyne and 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 is writing,
or the ball can guess where it is going next. -

From Open Secret, Versions of Rumi https://amzn.to/2rEqBuy

trust, Monotype of the Day #494

Day 128 of Year 2 (Actually Day 129)

I've felt a little blocked in the monotype studio lately. Mainly because I'm focused on prepping for my solo show in January. I have a limited amount of energy each day and have to be judicious about how I use it. I thought this was my major constraint, but today I realized lack of mental space is even more of an issue. The to do lists, deadlines, and anxieties were overfilling my brain. This last week, I began meditating again to reclaim and empty my mind. It feels great to have the channel open once more. Today while meditating, this image dropped in. With all the tasks to finish before my show, there is a bit of vertigo, a feeling of falling. This image is a gift from The Artist to the artist (me), to sooth and comfort. Trust the process and all will be well.

cocoon, Monotype of the Day #493

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Day 127 of Year 2 (Actually Day 127)

Deep change happens beyond the comprehension of the mind. This is why it helps to surrender and trust. When the mind cannot understand something is afoot. The studio is a microcosm, trusting in the process here helps me trust out there in the world. The Artist trains me (an artist) everyday in my studio. This builds spiritual muscles that inform and change the way I lead my life. The result is my small "a" in artist keeps shrinking. The more it shrinks the happier and more empowered I feel. It's a beautiful sacred process and I am grateful to have a chance to pursue this work in the studio and in my spirit.

From burweed
By Kobayashi Issa, Trans. Stryk and Ikemoto

From burweed,
such a butterfly
was born?

From Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter https://amzn.to/2XpvtyM 

Here, Monotype of the Day #459

Day 93 of Year 2 (Actually Day 94)


Today, I needed to feel this orange, with its life affirming heat. From there, the image unfolded. It always starts like that, a flush of color or a fragment of image pops into my head like a key to unlocking a mystery. Then, the innate wisdom of the body takes over. My hands, even in their weakened state, know more about making art than my brain ever could. In this process, the brain has a more important task than thinking. It must empty and listen. The ink's voice, the images that pop in, the nudges, must be heard. All are messages from the universal source of all creativity, The Artist, shining through from behind the veil, a gift to the artist.

By Angelus Silesius, Trans. Stephen Mitchell
God, whose love and joy
are present everywhere,
Can't come to visit you
unless you aren't there.

From The Enlightened Heart https://amzn.to/2OKKWHD