rooted, Monotype of the Day #633

Day 263 of Year 2 (Actually Day 268)

Well our new puppy has absorbed every second of time- free or otherwise. Also today my son, who has been in precautionary quarantine in my basement for two weeks, emerged. It was a VERY busy day. So strange that such a crazy and intense day brings such a centered image. This large moon, barren treescape, and color have been coming up over and over. I've been experimenting with different techniques each night. Last night's process was by far the most successful, at least for me, but tonight's is the calmest. Images work on different levels. There is the external level for viewers of my work and the internal level which is a private message to me, The Artist speaking tenderly to the artist. Not every image speaks deeply to me, but this one is particularly charged. The peaceful color and rooted person are directing me, stay calm, find your center. Though the trees are barren, to me they appear simply to be waiting for signs of spring. Patience will bear fruit.

the visitor, Monotype of the Day #631

Day 261 of Year 2 (Actually Day 266)

Another very quick sketch this evening. This large moon is haunting my brain. My studio is a bit out of control at the moment. It's been several weeks without my studio assistant and I am getting down to the nitty gritty. Soon paper must be torn, mat chips cut, trash emptied and I have been spoiled rotten with help. Some things I can't so on my own so it will be interesting to see what effect this has on my work. Attachment. We get attached to things being a certain way. I am trying to let my expectations go and see what comes.

moonlit song, Monotype of the Day #630

Day 260 of Year 2 (Actually Day 265)

I hope you are all safe and well. I'd love if you would comment on this post and let me know how you are doing. Trying to loosen things up a bit tonight and work quickly. It's been a while since I did this and it's so important to do now and then. It gives the body and muscle memory a chance to reintegrate with the mind. Without these exercises, it's easy to get too careful and start thinking rather than listening. There is nothing more important to my process than listening. I've included a picture of the plate with ink just for interest. xoxo

In Silence
By Thomas Merton

Be still.
Listen to the stones of the wall.
Be silent, they try
to speak your

name.
Listen to the living walls.

Who are you?
Who
are you? Whose
silence are you?

Who (be quiet)
are you (as these stones
are quiet). Do not
think of what you are
still less of
what you may one day be.

Rather
be what you are (but who?) be the unthinkable one
you do not know.

O be still, while
you are still alive,
and all things live around you

speaking (I do not hear)
to your own being,
speaking by the unknown
that is in you and in themselves. “I will try, like them
to be my own silence:
and this is difficult. The whole
world is secretly on fire. The stones
burn, even the stones they burn me.
How can a man be still or
listen to all things burning?
How can he dare to sit with them
when all their silence is on fire?” From The Strange Islands https://amzn.to/2UGe99k
Found on Poetry Chaikhana https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2013/09/27/thomas-merton-in-silence-2/
Poetry Chaikhana is an amazing amazing website for sacred poetry, check it out!

cocooning, Monotype of the Day #628

Day 258 of Year 2 (Actually Day 263)

It's helpful for me to think of this time as cocooning rather than quarantining. This way I emphasize the potential for growth and transformation rather than fear and anxiety. We have to think very carefully about where we put mental energy. What supports us in continuing to live life as fully as possible during this strange time? The outside world is fixed. We must stay put, but the inner world is wide open. What will we make of it? My love to all those who are sick or suffering.

messaging, Monotype of the Day #627

Day 257 of Year 2 (Actually Day 262)

I thought I'd show a few pictures for scale and process. Tomorrow I'll take a picture with ink on the plate before printing. Right now, the urge to simplify is strong so I find myself using just one color. I'm also back to meditating twice a day and it's like spring cleaning my brain! :) My show in February already seems like a millions years ago but really I'm just getting my grove back. With everything going on in the world, I'm grateful for any grove at all. I'm in the studio each day because I love it, but also because I need the healing and generative energy of the creative act. The centering moment of clarity that comes with making art balances and me. And studio teaches that though it's not easy, it's okay not to know what's coming. We are here now and this present moment is sacred and has the power to transform. My love and prayers to all those sick or suffering.

dream of strength, Monotype of the Day #625

Day 255 of Year 2 (Actually Day 260)

It must be spring that's driving my use of yellow. I feel it's glow waking me up and stirring things inside that have been quiet too long. To me trees have always symbolized strength. I admire their quiet growth and evolution. Nothing dramatic, just the gentle unfolding of a promise planted long ago. Tonight's poem is from Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus, probably my favorite book of poetry ever.

Sonnets to Orpheus Book I, I
By Rilke, Trans. Stephen Mitchell

A tree ascended there. Oh pure transcendence!
Oh Orpheus sings! Oh tall tree in the ear!
And all things hushed. Yet even in that silence
a new beginning, beckoning, change appeared.

Creatures of stillness crowded from the bright
unbound forest, out of their lairs and nests;
and it was not from any dullness, not
from fear, that they were so quiet in themselves,

but from just listening. Bellow, roar, shriek
seemed small inside their hearts. And where there had been
at most a makeshift hut to receive the music,

a shelter nailed up out of their darkest longing,
with an entryway that shuddered in the wind-
you built a temple deep inside their hearing.

From Sonnets to Orpheus https://amzn.to/2Jl4VZk (My book is out of print, but this should be the same translation)

inner world, Monotype of the Day #624

Day 254 of Year 2 (Actually Day 259)

Success! I've gotten back to making my print in the morning, though I'm still posting at night. This will enable me to go to sleep before 3am! What a transformative joy that will be. For those of us at home, this pause can be an opportunity as well as a trial. I am using it to create new healthier habits. That is my intention. Luckily I love the morning anyway. Morning energy is different and my work is changed by it. Somehow early in the day the inner world seems so clear. I am always struck, and particularly so this morning, by how large and spacious this inner world can be. My love and prayers to all those who are sick or suffering. xo

Camas Lilies
By Lynn Ungar

Consider the lilies of the field,
the blue banks of camas
opening into acres of sky along the road.
Would the longing to lie down
and be washed by that beauty
abate if you knew their usefulness,
how the natives ground their bulbs
for flour, how the settlers' hogs
uprooted them, grunting in gleeful
oblivion as the flowers fell?

And you -- what of your rushed
and useful life? Imagine setting it all down --
papers, plans, appointments, everything --
leaving only a note: "Gone
to the fields to be lovely. Be back
when I'm through with blooming." Even now, unneeded and uneaten,
the camas lilies gaze out above the grass
from their tender blue eyes.
Even in sleep your life will shine.
Make no mistake. Of course
your work will always matter.

Yet Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these.

From Bread and Other Miracles https://amzn.to/3anSRT6 Ungar has been turning out a lot of new work recently. I encourage to get this amazing book of her poems and find her newer work on her facebook page. She is SO good and her work resonates deeply with this time we are in.

finding peace, Monotype of the Day #623

Day 253 of Year 2 (Actually Day 258)

I couldn't bring myself to erase that beautiful stripe of pink ink from yesterday's plate so I made it into a tree. What else could I do? 😊I am trying to embrace what is happening right now and take in this pause, so I am going on a daily walk. The streets have a peacefulness usually only experiences on Thanksgiving or Christmas afternoons. Bird song is everywhere. I am grateful for these small moments of beauty in the middle of this storm. My love and prayers to all those who are sick or suffering.

The Best of Any Song
By Wendell Berry

The best of any song
is bird song
in the quiet, but first
you must have quiet.

From A Timbered Choir https://amzn.to/33T0w9x

pollination, Monotype of the Day #622

Day 252 of Year 2 (Actually Day 257)

Tonight's poem is my favorite bee poem. I had to post it to go with the theme of this print. But this poem also relates to last night's post- so much can happen while we are at rest. xo

Last Night As I Lay Dreaming
By Antonio Machado, Trans. Robert Bly

Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt -- marvelous error!—
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk? Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt -- marvelous error!—
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures. Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt -- marvelous error!—
that a fiery sun was giving
light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes. Last night, as I slept,
I dreamt -- marvelous error!—
that it was God I had
here inside my heart.

From The Longing In Between, Sacred Poetry From Around the World https://amzn.to/2JiiyIO

life force, Monotype of the Day #621

Day 251 of Year 2 (Actually Day 256)

Tonight's poem has brought me so much solace in my life. In many ways, to people who live with long term illness, shelter in place is a familiar feeling. We have had to give up so many things over the years, parties, trips, important family events. We know how much it sucks and how much grief it brings. But we also know that we can grieve our cancelled events and come through on the other side. We have been forced to learn that beauty is possible amid loss and that waiting is just a skill. So now as we wait for this storm to pass I offer you tonight's poem as salve. My love and prayers to all those who are suffering or ill.

Gitanjali 81
By Tagore

On many an idle day have I grieved over lost time. But it is never lost, my lord. Thou hast taken every moment of my life in thine own hands.
Hidden in the heart of things thou art nourishing seeds into sprouts, buds into blossoms, and ripening flowers into fruitfulness.
I was tired and sleeping on my idle bed and imagined all work had ceased. In the morning I woke up and found my garden full with wonders of flowers.

From Gitanjali https://amzn.to/2Ux6jgV

flow, Monotype of the Day #620

Day 250 of Year 2 (Actually Day 255)

A very quick sketch tonight because our furnace died and its is FREEZING in my studio! FREEZING! Luckily we are able to heat our bedroom with a space heater and hopefully we can get it replaced soon. Still I feel lucky, I have so much. I know there are people who are truly suffering and my heater doesn't compare. This will pass. Sending love and prayers to all those who are suffering or unwell. xo