Monday, October 30, 2017

The River of Not Knowing / Q&Q Cut-Up #2

Had no idea where this painting would go when I began, but I stepped into the river of not knowing and let myself move with the current.

Jay and Christine had no idea where their first date in December 2004 would go either, but they stepped into the river of not knowing … and on Saturday we celebrated their wedding. The best!

Helpers of Each Other in All the Chances and Changes in the World
4x5"; acrylic, ink, pencil, collage, and pastels on unstretched canvas,
mounted on painted wood
abstract
2017
[gift]

Christine read a passage by John Muir when she and Jay exchanged vows; I composed a haiku from those words and inscribed them on the back of the painting:

Every bird song,
wind song, storm song, water song
is ours, sings our love.




10 comments:

carol edan said...

First a grand Mazal Tov for Jay and Christine! What a beautiful gift. That poem is really strong! We are always going off into the unknown, especially in our art work, never really knowing what will come out of it. Many times we feel uncomfortable during the process, which according to Jane, that's part of the process.
"A big part of this lesson is getting comfortable with being
uncomfortable."

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Thanks for your Mazal Tov and contemplative thoughts, Carol. We rolled from wedding weekend (not quite over yet, as our son Scott won't fly back to Seattle until today) into a significant wind-rain storm overnight Sunday into Monday which has left New England with considerable damage from falling trees and 400,000 homes and businesses without power. We are SO grateful to have a generator for a few basic spots in our home, but we've been without power for 24 hours now and may have several days of same still ahead of us.

carol edan said...

Sorry to hear about the storm. Hope that everything is getting back to normal.

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Thanks, Carol. It's an off-kilter time for sure! I pause often to ask myself, "Where are your feet?" and that pulls me out of my head into the moment I am living—whether that moment is what I expected or not.

Lola (Jen Jovan) said...

happy wedding!!!! a beautiful, deeply moving haiku and art to match. Incredible. You are in the groove, Dotty, in flow...love the movement in this piece.

dotty seiter: now playing said...

'Twas a happy wedding! Thanks for your comments re flow, groove, movement. I am needing to find flow, groove, and movement today as my son Scott, the last of our guests, just took wing for Seattle, and our loss of electricity from Sunday's storm is now in its second day.

Janet Bradish said...

Lovely Dotty! Congratulations to Jay and Christine and to all your family. Your haiku is beautiful - as is the artwork!! You are posting great artwork - whatever you're doing keep doing and more!! Hope your power is restored soon.

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Thank you for your warm wishes, your accolades, and your encouragement. Last houseguest has now gone home and power came back on at noon. Plenty of followup on the docket, and I hope to sneak in some time with a paintbrush in my hand.

Simone said...

Hi Dotty, Beautiful words, beautiful painting. Jay and Christine are lucky with a mother (in law) like you.

I especially like the two barely visible words. Especially the fact that they are barely visible! They don't shout their presence from the rooftops. But still it is there!

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Simone, thank you, thank you! Love that you discovered and appreciate the quiet but sure presence of those words. Remind me to tell you a back story about them.

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