worship & worship ghost print, Monotype of the Day $784

.Day 53 of year 3

Yesterday when we walked in the forest I saw the first colorful leaves of fall on the ground. I had that wistful end of summer feeling and today fall colors have shown up in my prints. Change is inevitable. The seasons turn by. Some change is easy and some is difficult, even unacceptable like illness or death. I have spent a good deal of my life learning to accept the unacceptable. I have been ill since my early 20s and I've missed a lot of things. I've struggled and almost died. But everything that I had to go through changed me for the better and opened my heart. This experience has grown in me a deep and abiding trust in my journey. Through everything I've experienced, there has been a greater purpose. I've learned to do what I can to the best of my abilities and trust that what needs to happen will. What needs to happen and what I want to happen are not always the same thing. Trust goes hand in hand with releasing control. This is a lesson that is also learned in the studio. the artist trusts in their own process, the artist surrenders to The Artist.

crack already, Monotype of the Day #440

Day 74 of Year 2 (Actually Day 75)

So many things are cooking in the studio I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. Because I am still recovering from my trip to drop my son at college, I am resting more than I'd like. Recently a friend told me that even with all my health challenges, I get more done than many people. I'd like to believe it's true, but it's hard to feel it when projects that could be moving forward quickly inch along. Everyday, I press forward with my work. Some days it's easy and a joy, and some days it's by sheer will alone anything gets done. Still the minutes on difficult days add up to hours over all, things move forward, and I am grateful. I know that the flow of work carries me forward. Some parts of my stream are wide and slow and some narrow and fast. Patience and faith in process are what is needed.

Sonnets to Orpheus (Book 2, XXIX)
By Rilke, Trans. Barrows & Macy (Link to book below)

Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.

Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,

what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.

In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.

And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent Earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.

From In Praise of Mortality: https://amzn.to/2lhW3eS

wait a minute, Monotype of the Day #305

The past few days, I've had an idea pop into my head before I began to work. I consider these moments messages to follow. Tonight though, I wanted my hands to drive not my head. Hands have their own kind of intelligence and insight and in art the body is your partner. Yes I know there is conceptual art where, in some cases, the artist never actually touches their own piece. But this doesn't really interest me. I'm searching for the heart of our humanity, the precious beat that makes us who we are. The body is our inescapable partner in this so I make sure to regularly give it a voice and to listen. This is what she had to say today... Update: Listening to this print has given me my inspiration for tomorrow.
xo