rising, Monotype of the Day #797

Day 65 of year 3

Lately I've been making a real effort to get out into nature on a regular basis. It's something I haven't done consistently since I was a child and it's changing me. Each trip feels like dust falling from my eyes. My vision is clearer and I definitely feel more grounded. Sometimes when you feel a little blocked up like I have this last week, the best thing to do is get out of your head and clear the mind. One of the things that has been frustrating me is the small size of my printing plate. My experiments at going larger have all been failures. Today it dawned on me that I need to make my own plates out of gelatin. I'll start with small-sized tests but I'm hoping to be able to get really large with it. We shall see, I've ordered the supplies. It's at times like these that I really do miss my studio assistant because some things are challenging because of my physical limitations. I've learned to have patience though. I do what I can and try to find creative workarounds for the rest. If I absolutely can't figure out how to do something, I remind myself that all things have their proper time. I trust that time will come and, while I am waiting, I turn my process to something else. One foot in front of the other and eventually all will be done.

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feeling small I & II, Monotypes of the Day #778

Day 46 of year 3

Struggled a lot tonight with these prints. But sometimes it's like that. I'm posting them anyway. Make work not judgements! xo

self portrait with bird, Monotype of the Day #755

Day 23 of Year 3

Another self portrait. I'll be exited when this topic plays itself out but for now, I submit to what is given.

I Worried
By Mary Oliver

I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers
flow in the right direction, will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not how shall
I correct it?

Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?

Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows
can do it and I am, well,
hopeless.

Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,
am I going to get rheumatism,
lockjaw, dementia?

Finally I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And gave it up. And took my old body
and went out into the morning,
and sang.

From Swan: Poems and Prose Poems https://amzn.to/31peMGf 

greening, Monotype of the Day #733

Day 362 of Year 2 (Actually Day 2 of Year 3)

O most noble Greenness, rooted in the sun
By Hildegard of Bingen, Trans. Jerry Dybdal and Matthew Fox

O most noble Greenness, rooted in the sun,
shining forth in streaming splendor upon the wheel of Earth.
No earthly sense or being can comprehend you.
You are encircled by the very arms of Divine mysteries.
You are radiant like the red of dawn!
You glow like the incandescence of the sun!

From Hildegard of Bingen's Book of Divine Works https://amzn.to/3gSC6lY

keyhole, Monotype of the Day #728

Day 357 of Year 2 (Actually Day 362)

I did a very light white and yellow layer over the ghost from last night but I wish the white ink was more opaque. Art materials have a will and vision of their own and often t is at odds with what the artist wants. It can be an ongoing battle, a conversation, and sometimes even a surrender. Artist materials ground and connect us to the physical world. They remind that we are physical beings that live in the present moment. This is why I try to listen to my materials and partner with their purpose rather than resist. Surprising things happen at the meeting point of divine creative flow and the material world. The artist is the cauldron where these two determined energies mix and are transmuted into one.

agent of change, Monotype of the Day #705

Day 335 of Year 2 (Actually Day 340)

Touched by an Angel
By Maya Angelou

We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight,
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.

From Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou https://amzn.to/3ftENJW

self portrait in quarantine, Monotype of the Day #701

Day 331 of Year 2 (Actually Day 336)

"There is a voice that does not use words. Listen!"
-Rumi

Making a self portrait is an important tool for staying centered and present. So many things come up each day to pull our attention away. Self portrait helps me be with what is rather than escaping into distraction. My studio practice is at its heart, an act of listening and I can't listen deeply if I am distracted. Deep listening is a powerfully transformative act.

the edge of night, Monotype of the Day #661

661.jpg

Day 291 of Year 2 (Actually Day 296)

I mixed a color tonight that has a good amount of white in it. The white seems to have blocked a lot of the under (ghost) layer and also doesn't have the depth of the inks without white mixed in. Lesson learned. Every image that fails in someway is a doorway. There are a lot of failures in studio practice, some true failures and some perceived by the artist alone. It is so important to understand that failure is a vital, beautiful part of the process. Understanding this is like grease for your gears. It keeps the creative spring flowing instead of stopped up by disappointment.

Quatrain 1115
By Rumi, Trans Colman Barks

The minute I am disappointed, I feel encouraged.
When I am ruined, I am healed.
When I am quiet and solid as the ground, then I talk
the low tines of thunder for everyone.

From Open Secret, Versions of Rumi https://amzn.to/2YvQsm8 (A really wonderful collection)

ponder, Monotype of the Day #657

Day 287 of Year 2 (Actually Day 292)

Today was a cleaning day so I am tired! How messy is your quarantine house on a scale of 1-10, 10 being a disaster area and 1 being clean? I expected that we would be a full 14 by now, but we have been keeping it a respectable 7-8. Cleaning is physically challenging for me and with the house in chaos from a new puppy and a teenager. I'd say we are doing pretty well. (Mainly because my husband is a saint!) The message here is it okay. We are all doing our best. Maybe it doesn't look as well as we'd like but this is what we can do right now. I accept that. I hope you are being kind to yourself too.

PS I found a few more sheets of torn paper!