My First Animation!

To keep myself busy while I have a broken arm I've taken of animation. This is my first attempt and it was so much fun! There was a steep learning curve and I mostly taught myself but I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Procreate is a neat program to work with. What do you think? xo

at sea, Monotype Monday

Welcome to February! I don't know about you, but the pandemic has dissolved my sense of time and I find it challenging to remember which day it is. It doesn't help that last week I took a fall while walking and injured my elbow a lot. It's on the mend, but it's kept me inside and relatively sedentary all week. It reminds me how fragile and fleeting life is. This is not depressing, it's a beautiful and inescapable truth. Good times must be seized and squeezed for every drop. I feel at sea right now without the structure of my daily posts or the ability to work as I'd like. But as my print shows, there is much richness in the sea. Structure and work will return soon enough. For now my fragile boat holds it's steady course. (Poem below the title)

at sea 2/1/21 Monotype of the Day Monday

The Ocean Moving All Night
By Rumi Trans. Coleman Barks & John Moyne

Stay with us. Don't sink to the bottom
like a fish going to sleep.
Be with the ocean moving steadily all night,
not scattered like a rainstorm.

The spring we're looking for
is somewhere in this murkiness.
See the night-lights up there traveling together,
the candle awake in its gold dish.

Don't slide into the cracks of the ground like spilled mercury.
When the full moon comes out, look around.

From Open Secret https://amzn.to/31EwLZ2

partners, Monotype Monday

An attempt at a video today below.

partners
1/24/21
Monotype of the Day Monday

veiled, Monotype of the Day Monday

I'm beginning to catch my breath. I didn't realize how depleted I was from my Monotype of the Day Project. I may need another week or two before I can get back into full swing. In the meantime the unsexy part of being an artist, things that must be written about, not shown are moving forward. To find out more, become a Patreon subscriber (https://www.patreon.com/sybilarchibald). See you next week! (Poem below the title)

veiled
1/18/21
Monotype of the Day Monday

In the Stream
By Dogen, Trans. Heine

In the stream,
Rushing past
To the dusty world,
My fleeting form
Casts no reflection.

From The Zen Poetry of Dogen https://amzn.to/2M7MoVm

Monotype of the Day Mondays, Contemplation

contemplation2, monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald

It’s been a week since I posted my last print. This is the first installation of Monotype of the Day Mondays. It’s been an interesting week. I’ve made art everyday (but only a few monotypes) because I must. I love the poem The Waking by Roethke. This line really gets me:

“I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.”

(Full poem below the title)

I did fear to stop the daily postings of The Monotype of the Day Project, but it knew that’s where I had to go. Now new projects are opening before me, but as usual I have no idea how they will get done. For now, I only have faith. The idea was given to me so there must be a way to make it happen. I only have to be patient, do the work I can, and the path will become clear.

It’s been a bit difficult to adjust to stopping my nightly prints. The pull of my studio at 10-11pm is so very strong, but I am resisting. I have committed to sleeping and I’ve made some progress moving from 3-4 hours a night to 5-6 hours. Even that much makes a big difference and with my more rested mind a lot is going on in the studio! Some highlights:

-Monotype of the Day Book- I finally have time to work on this! There are so many pieces that have to come together to make this happen but progress is being made and I’m excited!

-Sketching and planning for my newest sculptural installation project. Only Patreon members are getting the details for now but I am VERY amped about it!

-Cleanup and reorganization (It has to happen see messy pictures below!)

contemplation 1 & contemplation 2
1/4/21
Monotype of the Day Monday

The Waking
By Theodore Roethke 

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go. 

We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. 

Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go. 

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. 

Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me, so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

 This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.

From The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke https://amzn.to/3neIBST

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

the gift, Monotype of the Day #897

Day 165 of year 3 (Total project days 897)

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

the gift, monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald

the language of dawn, Monotype of the Day #896

Day 164 of year 3 (Total project days 896)

Wishing everyone a beautiful day whether it's a Merry Christmas or a lazy day off. May you feel loved and content. xo

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

the language of dawn, monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald

incubation, Monotype of the Day #892

Day 160 of year 3, Total project days 892

“And I am the egg that surrounds and nurtures the seed of the God in me.”
-Carl Jung, The Red Book

Today I woke up with my head full of ideas for new projects. I got out my idea sketchbook which I haven't done for a while. It feels good.

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

landing, Monotype of the Day #890

Day 158 of year 3

“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

Day 890, ten days left in this project. I announced the ending early so the challenges that come up at its close could be documented as part of the whole.

It has been a strange day. Even though I know this is the right decision, I feel really uneasy. Everyday for so long has been structured around my daily print. The looming loss of this structure is both exciting and scary. And he internal pressure is mounting to make these last days count with good prints. I can really see how this project has trained me though. I recognized this pressured feeling, the need to judge my work, the need to produce work people will "like", but it no longer fazes or controls me. I acknowledge it and move on. This is a major lesson I've learned over the past few years. It's not for me to judge my work or worry. My job is simply to show up and work, to throw myself deeply into the conversation between artist and Artist, and embrace the mystery at the heart of the creative process. The world will sort out the rest.

Tonight's piece is the ghost print from last night on top of a ghost print from last week. I fully intended to add another layer, but it was clear this print was complete. Amazingly, it seems I've learned to listen (finally)! I guess the lesson for this week is knowing when to stop.

xo Sybil

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

floating, Monotype of the Day #884

Day 152 of year 3

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

floating, monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald

trapped, Monotype of the Day #883

Day 151 of year 3

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

trapped, monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald

frustration (2), Monotype of the Day #882

Day 150 of year 3

I've hit a major stumbling block in the studio. I accept where I am and trust my process. I know eventually I will figure it out, but that hasn't dissipated my feelings of frustration which are intense. I have to honor those feelings instead of fighting them so they can pass. I am grateful to have art to help me do that.

frustrated (2), monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

frustration, Monotype of the Day #881

Day 149 of year 3

For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  

sunrise dream, Monotype of the Day #862

Day 130 of year 3

Tonight's poem may or may not fit this print but I've noticed sometimes the space between two different things can become something important on its own. Artists call this expanse "negative space." The air between two bodies, the emptiness between the two hands can define so much. I look for these empty spaces visually and within myself. I believe they are where the real truth lies.

Heartbeat
By Rilke, Trans. Albert Ernest Flemming

Only mouths are we. Who sings the distant heart
which safely exists in the center of all things?
His giant heartbeat is diverted in us
into little pulses. And his giant grief
is, like his giant jubilation, far too
great for us. And so we tear ourselves away
from him time after time, remaining only
mouths. But unexpectedly and secretly
the giant heartbeat enters our being,
so that we scream ——,
and are transformed in being and in countenance.

From Rainer Maria Rilke Selected Poems https://amzn.to/3lSjOUT

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.  For the first 24 hours after posting, this piece is 10% off and can be purchased here.

The SOMA Projector Project

Some photos of my art projected on SOPAC, a 5 story performing arts center / movie theater in conjunction with the SOMA Studio Tour this week. So fun! Thanks to Greg Leshé for these photos, for his vision in creating the project, and his hard work making it happen! Greg is an amazing artist and a tireless advocate for art in town. We are so lucky he makes his home here!