the artist has power, Monotype of the Day #290

I'm really beginning to feel better and it puts me in mind of Hildegard of Bingen's story which always inspired me even before I fell ill so many years ago. She had visions that she was to leave her nunnery and go start her own convent, but she kept silent. Her silence caused her to become sicker and sicker until so was so ill she could not even be lifted from her bed. But as soon as she shared her visions, she was healed. This story reminds me how important it is to share what we have been given in this world and for me in particular, to keep working. It has been a bear of a year. For a full year I was on a liquid diet and truly did not know if I would ever eat solid food again. I fought, and I am eating again. I battled all year long and through much of it, I had my daily prints. These prints have sustained me, healed me, and given me vision and hope to carry on. They have layers, one is for the world and another is a very personal message of love and compassion for me as an artist from The Artist. I am grateful for this year because I have learned and softened so much. I am also so grateful for finally turning the corner. Hildegard uses the word "veriditas". It can be translated in many ways, but it is fecund, pulse of life and change the surges through creation causing everything to grow. I has seen it translated as "greening" which I love. I had the impulse to bring green in today and I believe it is the beginning of my reconnection to veriditas. xoxo

Feeding Time, Monotype of the Day #143

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I have been on a liquid diet since March due to issues with my esophagus. Recently, I have been able to reintroduce some solid foods and am on the road to recovery. I love that my figures this week are coming out so plump and well fed, it bodes well. Every physical challenge can be seen as gift for spiritual growth. This is a core idea that runs through my work and my life. Every moment is ripe for the picking and this is especially true of our most challenging times. I love the mystical concept of the dark night of the soul. In moments of greatest darkness, we are being held closest by the Divine, so close that we are literally blinded by the Light. Divine reason often appears to humanity as chaos and darkness. I take comfort in this thought. So I stay the course and keep harvesting the fruit from every moment.