On My Nightstand, On My Easel 3/31/23

On my nightstand:

Somewhere, between the breeze

and the faraway sound of a train,

comes a line of birdsong, lightly

threading the heavy cloth of dream.

Joyce Sutphen, excerpted from "Soundings"

On my easel:

As I paint, the simple pleasures of homefront soundings, indoors and out, thread my work—Dave's footsteps going up and down the stairs to the basement to get carpentry tools, the banging away of a patch of sheetrock in the family room ceiling and, between those footsteps and that banging, the industry on a sparrow, pecking against the inside wall of a birdhouse as some part of the process of constructing a nest for imminent occupancy.

A Line of Birdsong
1.5 x 6" bookmark; acrylic, ink, and Stabilo pencil
on watercolor paper
abstract
2023

On My Nightstand, On My Easel 3/30/23

On my nightstand:

It is not that suffering will end. As far as I can tell, the one thing we can count on is that everything we are counting on is going to fall through under us. I will never welcome the feeling of falling through the floor. But I believe we are falling through into God or something—but not nothing.

—Polly Berrien Berends, Coming to Life

On my easel:

OMG, I am so well practiced in suffering! 

But I know the reason I paint is that painting offers me practice in finding ways to go along with this process of falling through into God.

I get considerable practice.

I need considerably more.

Not Nothing
1.5 x 6" bookmark; acrylic, ink, and Stabilo pencil
on watercolor paper
abstract
2023

On My Nightstand, On My Easel 3/29/23

On my nightstand:

Geese appear high over us,

pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,

as love or sleep, holds

them to their way, clear

in the ancient faith: what we need

is here. And we pray, not

for new earth or heaven, but to be

quiet in heart, and in eye,

clear. What we need is here.

    —Wendell Berry

On my easel:

I'm having so much fun playing with faux calligraphy!

What We Need Is Here
1.5 x 6" bookmark; acrylic, ink, and Stabilo pencil
on watercolor paper
abstract
2023

On My Nightstand, On My Easel 3/28/23

On my nightstand:

To look for the good in some other circumstance than the one in which we find ourselves is to trash the only happiness we will ever have: now. Whether it pleases us or not, each moment is a gift. No matter how unpleasant the wrapping, inside is something wonderful that life wants to give us. If we let it pass without opening it, we have missed something priceless.

—Polly Berrien Berends, Coming to Life

On my easel:

A second bookmark, another visual poem, emerges from the Bo's Arts starts created last week. I use Stabilo pencils for the first time. I try my hand at asemic writing of a sort I bumped into somewhere on Instagram, writing that may in part be actual language. Gifts abound: energy! play! invention!

In Your Life Just as It Is Happening Right Now
1.5 x 6" bookmark; acrylic, ink, and Stabilo pencil
on watercolor paper
abstract
2023

Poems: One. At. A. Time.

I can fly through a 400-page novel in a matter of a few days.

Poems, on the other hand, need to be surrounded by time. They need to be framed with long, slow, deep breaths. Absorbed and received in an entirely different and more spacious way than story.*

So it is with visual poems as well.

I present you with the first in a series.

An Invitation to Walk Through Some of Your Doors
1.5 x 6" bookmark; acrylic, ink, and Stabilo pencil
on watercolor paper
abstract
2023

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*And, yes, since you ask, it might take me over a year to read 400 poems!

Joke's on Me!

When I last posted this piece, it was still a work in progress and I ended by saying, I don't think I'm done yet.

I was not.

I had the feeling of wanting a surprise, of wanting to do something more, something bold.

Well, the surprise was that no matter what my thinks-with-words brain was saying about bold, my art heart evidently had the final say, with subtle I-spy-with-my-little-eye eye-openers.

                                                                  

Let's Twist Nervous Systems Around One Another
And Construct a Place That Wasn't There Before
5 x 5.5"; acrylic, ink, and collage on card stock
abstract seascape
2023

Bo's Arts!

My friend Bo, who had to drive out of her neck of the woods past my neck of the woods for an appointment in yet another neck of the woods today, suggested that on her way back home maybe we could hang out together for lunch and then play with art in some way.

Yup, we could.

And did.

I am totally lifted up by what I'm going to refer to as our afternoon of Bo's Arts!

We stepped out of head space and into creative energy—out of chronos into kairos—to make some starts. Oh, the places we've yet to go—can't wait to see what emerges.

Sneak preview of things to come …

Poking and Playing

More poking around and playing with what I posted yesterday.

Limited palette: turquoise green, oxide black, white gesso.

Limited tools: silicone shower scraper, fine line applicator.

I don't think I'm done yet.

more layers on 5.25 x 5.5" paper;
further exploring and learning

Poking Around With Paint

Limited palette: turquoise green, quinacridone rose, quinacridone nickel azo gold, oxide black, white gesso.

Limited tools: palette knife, fine line applicator, nylon screen as stencil.

This little exploration came about mostly as an outgrowth of offloading unused bits of paint while creating other work.

It is now only visible as a photograph since I went on to paint over it completely later.

exploration; putting layers on 5.25 x 5.5" paper

Upstanding Art

I set out last week to poke around my studio in search of a found composition that could become a birthday card. I sorted through existing paintings on paper but what eventually caught my eye were scraps from practice brushstrokes done in service of my recent series of eight abstract-scribble-inquiry paintings. 

One thing led to another, and my paper card idea evolved into a multi-layered composition mounted on wood—an upstanding piece of art, if I do say so myself. 

And, not only is it upstanding, but it can stand up by itself!

Simply Pay Attention to What Comes Along
3.75 x 4.75"; acrylic on paper, mounted on wood
abstract
2023

upstanding art standing up on display

Leaning Into Limits

My Dutch artist friend Simone Nijboer recently wrote an art newsletter about her love of color and the palette that has become her personal color signature. 

The sparks of her thoughts landed in my thoughts and lit me up with inspiration. My own recent experience of working with a limited palette over a series of eight paintings shook hands with Simone's color signature, and off I went to my studio! 

I have fiddled with grand contentment and engagement over the past few days in a creative inquiry, using a close approximation of Simone's signature palette as my base colors. I explored and experimented, fascinated by the color mixing I could do with Amsterdam turquoise green, Amsterdam quinacridone rose, Golden quinacridone nickel azo gold, and Amsterdam oxide black and Liquitex white gesso as sidekicks.

Way fun.

Painting, created by Dotty, using Simone's signature colors.

There Is No Cure for Curiosity
5.5 x 5.5"; acrylic, ink, and collage on card stock
abstract
2023

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Painting, created by Simone, using Simone's signature colors!

WIP and SOS

I'm lighting a flare here because I need help. The little work-in-progress currently in my studio has volunteered to wave its arms metaphorically to see if we catch anyone's attention.

All of which is to say that the RSS feed that notifies subscribers of my posts has not notified since 2/8/23. I don't know why. 

I've looked under the hood, so to speak, but I don't see anything amiss nor do I know what to look for to rectify the situation. 

I reached out to Feedio via their contact address last week. No reply thus far. 

Today I just want to post my WIP and see if its presence is signaled to my subscribers. If it is not, then I'll figure out next steps.

Your part, dear subscribers, is to let me know if you are notified via email of this post. Either use the comments feature here at the blog if you are able or send me an email.

Thank you!

work in progress waving its arms at you!