the boat is empty, Monotype of the Day #455

Day 89 of Year 2 (Actually Day 90)

While uploading images to my new website (www.sybilarchibaldart.com), I came across an older print titled "so many fish long for bait “. The title, a line from a poem by Wang Wei, suggests wanting and wanting was is not good for us.
This image, strikes me as the opposite of that. The spacious emptiness of the boat and fish, calm in the face of stormy weather, is something I aspire to. How much room can be made to allow for life to flow through. More than any other image I've made recently, this one gives me hope. The fact that this image could come through shows how much these monotypes have changed and healed me. I feel very grateful and renewed in energy for my work. xo

"so many fish long for bait", Monotype of the Day #266

The title is a quote from the poem below. This phrase touches me deeply, we don't always know what is best for us. Our desires are not always for our highest good. Sometimes the thing is just to breathe and wait to be filled by the unknown as our desires pass us by. This is a lesson in trust and trust is one of foundations of making art (and also of healing).

Cooling Off
by Wang Wei
English version by Willis Barnstone
Original Language Chinese

Clear waters drift through the immensity of a tall forest.
In front of me a huge river mouth
receives the long wind.
Deep ripples hold white sand
and white fish swimming as in a void.
I sprawl on a big rock,
billows nourishing my humble body.
I gargle with water and wash my feet.
A fisherman pauses out on the surf.
So many fish long for bait. I look
only to the east with its lotus leaves

http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/W/WeiWang/CoolingOff/index.html