The Artist and the artist, Monotype of the Day #899

The Artist and the artist
Day 167 of year 3 (Total project days 899)

Tomorrow is the final day of this project in this form. In the beginning of the project, I made many prints each day and chose one to post with no commentary. As my project progressed and the commentary and poetry became more and more important, I did fewer prints each day. It worked because I was in a rhythm and I never really left the flow from one day to the next. Today I slipped back into making many prints. It was so freeing. There is a different quality to working this way. It's not that one is better or worse, but the daily prints are more like a dairy, like dipping a cup into a stream. The multiple print sessions are like mining to tap a deep well. I am looking forward to mining for a while and I'll be posting the results each Monday on "Monotype of the Day Monday". I am filled with gratitude for all of you who have taken this journey with me and supported my work with your comments, likes, and purchases. xo Sybil.

Heavy Secrets
By Dorothy Walters

You and I carry heavy secrets within.
This is why our breasts have grown so large.
Already they are overflowing,
ready to fill the world’s waiting mouth.

From A Cloth of Fine Gold https://amzn.to/34QewCH

at peace, Monotype of the Day #898

Day 166 of year 3 (Total project days 898)

Was it Light?
By Theodore Roethke

Was it light?
Was it light within?
Was it light within light?
Stillness becoming alive,
Yet still?

A lively understandable spirit
Once entertained you.
It will come again.
Be still.
Wait.

From Poetry for the Spirit https://amzn.to/3hjq72a

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.  

at peace, Monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald

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

egg head, Monotype of the Day #894

Day 162 of year 3 (Day 894)

7 days of this project to go. Yesterday I got in my head a bit so today I tried to stop grasping an allow more space. I'm just going to breathe and let this image be.

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.  

egg head, Monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald

the keyhole, Monotype of the Day #886

Day 154 of year 3

We are all keyholes waiting to be unlocked so our inner light can spill out into the world. Poem below the title.

This work is paired with "The Door" by Jane Hirshfield

Read it here: http://inwardboundpoetry.blogspot.com/2006/10/233-door-jane-hirshfield.html

from The October Palace https://amzn.to/2Ku42kY 

looking in, Monotype of the Day #880

Day 148 of year 3

Much of my work explores those places where the veil between the spiritual and physical worlds is thin, where we can begin to glimpse true mystery. In every moment many states of consciousness exist, spiritual, emotional, mental, physical. The physical is easy to see but others require more attention to access.

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 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!

there's a light, Monotype of the Day #848

Day 116 of year 3

Studio Tour tomorrow! If you are in the area, I hope you will stop by!! Which hat will I wear, we shall see! I'll post a picture for those who can't come. xo

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.

fishing, Monotype of the Day #825

Day 93 of year 3

Sonnets to Orpheus, Book II, XX
By Rilke, Trans. Barrows and Macy

How far it is between the stars, how much farther
is what's right here. The distance, for example,
between a child and one who walks by—
oh, how inconceivably far.

Not only in measurable spans does Fate
move through our lives.
Think how great the distance between a young girl
and the boy she avoids and loves.

Everything is far, nowhere does the circle close.
See, on the plate upon the festive table
how strangely the fish is staring.

Fish are mute, we used to think. Who knows?
We may, in the end, find that their silence
says more to us than our words..

From In Praise of Mortality https://amzn.to/37euSXE

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.
You can purchase this monotype here.

window, Monotype of the Day #813

window. monotype, 12 x 14”
Sybil Archibald

Day 81 of year 3

For more information about the process of monotype and the Monotype of the Day project click here.
You can purchase this monotype here.

rapt, Monotype of the Day #810

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."

—Rumi

Day 78 of year 3

you can purchase it here: https://www.sybilarchibaldart.com/monotypes-for-sale

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.

Click here to purchase this Monotype or use “Buy Art” in the menu above.

view from my window, again, Monotype of the Day #707

Day 337 of Year 2 (Actually Day 342)

through the window and morning warmth, Monotype of the Day #704

Day 334 of Year 2 (Actually Dya 339)

Today I couldn't decide which one to post. Which do you prefer, the layered print or the ghost print? All of a sudden, I have a deep urge to take these prints bigger, I mean really big. I have plexiglass on my large table. I'm going start experimenting and see if it's possible to print from it. I normally use a gelli plate which is a bit soft and allows you to print without a press. I'll have to see if the hard plexi will work. But, in order to do this, I have to clean my studio. Ack!!! Since I haven't had a studio assistant to help in a few months and I'm not generally focused on tidying, the place is a bit out of control to say the least. It's definitely nice to feel things shifting inside once more, a new adventure is about to begin!

the transfer, Monotype of the Day #460

Day 94 of Year 2 (Actually Day 95)

A larger sheet of paper would have been useful here. I wanted to do more with the second plate but alas, no room. Maybe tomorrow. This image was printed 3 times. 1, the hand, 2, the hand again with the left over ink from the first print, & 3, the person holding the finger. Printing is so magical, you never know exactly what anything will look like once ink hits paper. It teaches detachment. If you really love an image, it's difficult to take that leap of faith and print a second or third layer over it. So you must reserve judgment. This is one of the most important rules in the studio.

Raga
by Denise Levertov

The fluteplayer
can’t be seen to draw breath,
doesn’t even
part his lips. But music
flows from the
wooden flute, a river
of honey over-
flowing the honeycomb.

From Sands of the Well https://amzn.to/2pmQyNG (To see the bonus content posted with this on my patron page checkout www.patreon.com/sybilarchibald)