Day 250 of Year 2 (Actually Day 255)
A very quick sketch tonight because our furnace died and its is FREEZING in my studio! FREEZING! Luckily we are able to heat our bedroom with a space heater and hopefully we can get it replaced soon. Still I feel lucky, I have so much. I know there are people who are truly suffering and my heater doesn't compare. This will pass. Sending love and prayers to all those who are suffering or unwell. xo
Day 221 of Year 2 (Actually Day 226)
It's really wonderful to work in the morning, totally renewing. I tried a new technique today, gluing a piece of acid-free white tissue paper in the shape of hand down first and then printing over it. I love the effect. Photographs never quite capture these pieces perfectly, but some prints fair better than others. This one lost detail but you can still get a feel for it. The past month or so I've been feeling a little stale with these prints. It's not that I haven't had good prints, but I need more adventure and experimentation. As someone told me today, if you are not making mistakes and messes you're not pushing yourself enough. So I'm excited to delve into this new technique and see where it takes me.
This work is paired with "Evolution & Glass" by Jane Hirshfield
from After : Poems https://amzn.to/2HLOqoF
Today it occurred to me my images are hard to see on instagram: the small format hides too much of the detail.(Facebook allows you to see more.) It sets up and interesting internal problem: will I make the work that comes or will I let my ego's need for validation allow me to change my work to fit the needs of social media? So far I have resisted the temptation to change. 😊 So, as insulation from temptation, I'm including a quick video for detail. Still working on an earlier print/posting time, tomorrow is another day. xo
The trick to physical recovery is not overdoing. It's so easy to feel good and think you can conquer the world. I may have done too much conquering. Tomorrow I will rest. A Rilke poem today. Sending you my love. xoxo
We are the driving ones
by Rainer Maria Rilke, translation Stephen Mitchell
We are the driving ones.
Ah, but the step of time:
think of it as a dream
in what forever remains.
All that is hurrying
soon will be over with;
only what lasts can bring
us to the truth.
Young men, don't put your trust
into the trials of flight,
into the hot and quick.
All things already rest:
darkness and morning light,
flower and book.
Something has shifted, energy is returning. Another of my favorite poems...
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." http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/K/Kabir/Withinthisea/index.html
The body experiences waves of energy. So much of what passes through us is unknowable and not meant for us to understand, just to undergo. There is an alchemical connection between the surface of an artwork, the body, and the spirit. You change one part of this trinity and the other two must necessarily be changed too. I have had to change my spirit more times than I can count to finish a piece of art and I have also seen the act of making art change me spiritually. These past few days, I feel a strong connection between my current health struggles and these window prints. Making this work is releasing an energy that needs to pass out of my body. I do not understand or know the content of this energy but I feel the profound need to work so that the body/ spirit / art trinity can be transformed and healed. I am being nurtured by creativity, the unceasing flow of change and growth which undergirds all of life.
This was tough to make today. It's taking a while to recover. It's literally just my willpower that has me making prints this week. My body rebels. Here is a poem I love. It doesn't really relate to this print, but it is where I hope my energy will move very soon. xoxo
Form in Void
by IIkkyu Sojun
The tree is stripped,
All color, fragrance gone,
Yet already on the bough,
Uncaring spring!
http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/I/IkkyuSojunIk/ForminVoid/index.html
I think this one a overworked, but some days are like that. The trick is to move on and trust the process, you can't let a few days where you may not feel your work stop the flow.
Wow, really late tonight. I've needed to make this image for 2 day but was out of ink. Thanks to the ultra fabulous @wildcherryart for the art supply run while I was under the weather! We all leave footprints behind in the world. In our footprints are echoes of the eternal footprint of The Artist, the ceaseless source of all creativity. it is the challenge of the artist to be still and silent long enough to hear The Artist in our own steps. It is so late that I wonder if perhaps I'm not making any sense tonight at all. if this is so, just look at the image. Images hold so much more than words can ever convey anyway. xoxo -
Ok I have to get to the art supply store. I used my last drop of blue ink tonight and this smaller-sized paper is cramping my style big time. I NEED space to break out of the frame! Until tomorrow... xo
So the ink that made this figure was left on the plate from last night. I made a new print from it called a ghost print, and used it as a base for today's piece. I love ghost prints, the initial print absorbs most of the ink and strips the image bare. I like to think of it as removing some of the artist's ego 😊
This monotype is a miracle! I was working on another project and started this when I literally could barely stand 😊. So happy I still got an image out!
Feels good to break into the 200s 😊
Sometimes it takes sheer force of will. Spent the day on forced bed rest ruminating on more Rilke. "You must change your life" has always been an animating principle for me. My father always modeled this concept when I was growing up. When I first discovered this poem as a teen I took its call to change to heart.
Archaic Torso of Apollo
Rainer Maria Rilke, 1875 - 1926
We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,
gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.
Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur:
would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.
Today I officially passed the 6th month mark of making monotypes everyday. Feeling good about that! I'm going back to a concept I worked a month or more ago. I've decided to base my next large scale sculptural painting on it. I built the structure. It's 90" tall by about 72" wide. I'll probably be working this image for the next few days as my larger piece comes into more focus. Then again, I might not. We shall see what comes. 😊
This is the loosest one of the night. Trying to cleanse my palate so to speak. Tomorrow we shall see what today’s abandon brings. 😊