hand-some, Monotype of the Day #550

Day 180 of Year 2 (Actually Day 185)

As soon as I walked into the studio tonight I knew I needed to use this greenish color. It's a soothing antidote for a busy week. The show install is almost done. I'm really excited. The 4-D piece and the light piece came together really well. Hope to see you at the opening!

gestation, Monotype of the Day #547

Day 177 of Year 2 (Actually Day 182)

Another egg. I'm busy packing up tonight because tomorrow morning the truck arrives bright and early to be loaded for the gallery. Fun, nerve wracking, exciting? I don't really know how to describe it. But tonight, besides this print, my world is bubble wrap! Wish me luck! xoxo

ready and waiting!, Monotype of the Day #546

Day 176 of Year 2 (Actually Day 181)

A lot of eggs this week. 😊 Whenever I'm making eggs I feel comforted. I've posted tonight's poem before but I love it, so here it is again! xo

Oceans
by Juan Ramon Jimenez, Trans. Robert Bly

I have a feeling that my boat
has struck, down there in the depths
against a great thing. And nothing
happens! Nothing…Silence…Waves… –Nothing happens? Or has everything happened,
and are we standing now, quietly, in the new life?

From News of the Universe: Poems of Two Fold Consciousness https://amzn.to/305tT6G

the egg at sunrise, Monotype of the Day #544

Day 174 of Year 2 (Actually Day 179)

Three more work days until delivery of my show. It's exciting and it's a leap into the unknown. I've pushed myself with a couple of pieces that incorporate wind, sound and light. All the different components will come together at the last minute at the gallery. It's a risk but I figure the ideas wouldn't have been given if they weren't executable. So I trust the process we will see what hatches. xo

just checking in, Monotype of the Day #543

Day 173 of Year 2 (Actually Day 178)

Every once in a while I find it important to do a self portrait just to check in with myself and see how everything is going. This one is more of an energetic portrait than a realistic one. To stay grounded and present is one of the great tasks in life. Self portraits are part of that process for me. What helps you stay grounded?

hidden echo, Monotype of the Day #542

Day 172 of Year 2 (Actually Day 177)

Another calming image tonight. I'm feeling unaccountably relaxed considering I have just 5 days to get everything completed for my show. I was really stressed for a while but my daily practice of monotypes brought me back down to earth. The value of positive habits can't be overstated. They ground you in moments of chaos or pressure. They remind you that life goes on and our drama is just that, drama. Trees will keep blooming, grass will still grow, and I will continue to brush my teeth until I take my last breath and my creativity passes to another. Our own insignificance in the passage of time is strangely comforting. Without the pressure of self imposed ideas of greatness or importance we are free to truly be ourselves and create marvelous things. This week, I'm just breathing and putting one foot in front of the other. xo

Until Even the Angels
By Dorothy Walters

What the heart wants
is to follow its true passion,
to lie down with it
near the reeds beside
the river,
to devour it in the caves
between the desert dunes,
to sing its notes
into the morning sky
until even the angels
wake up
and take notice
and look around
for their beloved.

From A Cloth of Fine Gold https://amzn.to/2QMn2uE

space, Monotype of the Day #541

Day 171 of Year 2 (Actually Day 176)

I've been struggling a bit with the monotypes for the past week or so. So much of my energy has been directed to prep for my show that when I get into the print studio, it's been hard to focus. My mind has felt cluttered. I asked for an image tonight to help me clear my brain out and open back up to the creative flow. This simple image came and looking at it, I immediately feel more open and grounded. Deep breath, pause. I will return to work tomorrow refreshed. Today's poem (below the title) is another from Wendell Berry. I just got a new book of his work so I can't help myself! xo

Sabbaths 1992 II
by Wendell Berry

Lift up the dead leaves
and see, waiting
in the dark, in cold March,

the purplish stems, leaves,
and buds of twinleaf,
infinitely tender, infinitely

expectant. They straighten
slowly into the light after
the nights of frost. At last

the venture is made: the brief
blossoms open, the petals fall,
the hinged capsules of seed

grow big. The possibility
of this return returns
again to the seed, the dark,

the long wait, and the light again.

From A Timbered Choir https://amzn.to/35nN4d8

carried by wings, Monotype of the Day #540

Day 170 of Year 2 (Actually Day 175)

While cleaning my studio yesterday, I found a discarded print, just an empty boat. It called to me so instead of dumping it, tonight I printed two images on it- the angel and then the person. The creative process has no timeline.
Tonight is my son's last night home for a while so I'll leave at that for now. xo

the gift, Monotype of the Day #539

Day 169 of Year 2 (Actually Day 174)

With just 8 days until I deliver my work to the gallery, I've been very busy. With no time to clean my studio at all, today it was just so far out of control I couldn't stand it. I've attached two pictures of the mess and one picture of a light clean I did just so I could think again. After the work is delivered there is going to be a major deep clean and studio organization. I'm generally against spending too much time straightening up but sometime you need to let the old energy go to make room for the new. This is another one of those non-art related tasks that people never think of when they romanticize artists working away in their studios. 😊
Today's print is about the wounds we all carry. The way we chose to carry them determines so much of our experience. I'll delve into this more deeply on another night when I haven't spent so much time cleaning! xo

keyhole, Monotype of the Day #538

Day 168 of Year 2 (Actually Day 173)

Happy new year! The colors of yesterday's print (12/31/19) felt dense and heavy though the imagery was open, I didn't want to bring that into the new year. So something more dynamic and light was needed for today. I started with the heavy ghost ink from last night's plate and physically shifted the imagery and ink to be energetically lighter. I find this to be a powerful tool for change. Often when I am making a piece, an image comes out that makes me feel uncomfortable. Generally I know the meaning of what I've made, but when my discomfort causes me to change it, I no longer understand my work. This shift into the unknown actually causes me to feel freer and lighter. I am physical changing the external world and shifting the internal world at the same time. It is a magical, alchemical process. xo .


No end to the journey
by Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi Trans. Robert Bly

No end, no end to the journey
no end, no end never
how can the heart in love
ever stop opening
if you love me,
you won't just die once
in every moment
you will die into me
to be reborn

Into this new love, die
your way begins
on the other side
become the sky
take an axe to the prison wall,
escape
walk out like someone
suddenly born into color
do it now

From https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/R/RumiMevlanaJ/Noendtothe/index.html
https://amzn.to/39vnzJT