JUST THINKING by William Stafford Got up on a cool morning, Leaned out a window. No cloud, no wind. Air that flowers held for a while. Some dove somewhere. Been on probation most of my life. And the rest of my life been condemned. So these moments count for a lot -- peace, you know. Let the bucket of memory down into the well, bring it up. Cool, cool minutes. No one stirring, no plans. Just being there. This is what the whole thing is about.
Inner Journey by Robyn Gordon "In order to accomplish an experience, you have to have a chance to dance with it. You have to have a chance to play, to explore. Then each style of exploration that takes place is a different manifestation, we could say. Nevertheless, it is all part of one big game." -- Chogyam Trungpa It's a good feeling to be surrounded by my totems again. Just before the big clean-up, I was sitting quietly trying to trace back to a time when I didn't feel that something was missing from my art practice and it dawned on me that I was no longer surrounded by my own art. I've been setting my totems free too soon and feeling empty without them.
Stillness by Robyn Gordon
There are now three completed pieces watching over me, a work in progress nestles on the workbench
and the missing spark has returned. "Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences." -- Brian Eno
Party Girl by Robyn Gordon
When I met my muse by William Stafford I glanced at her and took my glasses off -- they were still singing. They buzzed like a locust on the coffee table and then ceased. Her voice belled forth, and the sunlight bent. I felt the ceiling arch, and knew that nails up there took a new grip on whatever they touched. "I am your own way of looking at things", she said. "When you allow me to live with you, every glance at the world around you will be a sort of salvation." And I took her hand.
Inner Journey by Robyn Gordon
" .... and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own." -- Mary Oliver (from The Journey, here) "Do you keep your creative work close enough? Is it always available? Keep it so close that when you turn around you run right into it!" - Eric Maisel
Homemade poetry book from a manilla folder. See how it's done here At the beginning of the year I started a journal for favourite poems, quotes and thoughts. I call it my stillness journal. It has become quite important to me though it really isn't anything special on the outside (but that will change when the time is right). On the inside however, it is exactly the way I want it. I'm filling it with poems and quotes that make my heart leap in recognition. Recognition of my thoughts and ideas about life that I have difficulty expressing in my own words. I don't want it to be a book that I'm afraid to write in. It has lines because crooked poems would worry me. I use pencil rather than pen and it's the sort of book that I can jot down comments in the margin without feeling that I'm spoiling the pristine pages. Leslie sent me an envelope of "scraps" from her studio. Leslie's scraps are my treasure and they beautify my journal.
Page in progress. A "scrap" by Leslie Avon Miller and a poem by Mary Oliver I've been noticing many journals that would be beautiful for sheltering poems in. I love Lotta Helleberg's journals. Treat yourself to an interview with Lotta here . You won't be disappointed!
"And I have always wanted to write about everything. That does not mean to write a book that covers everything -- which would be impossible. But a book into which everything can go. A book with a little of everything that creates itself out of everything. That has its own life. A faithful book. I no longer look at it as a "book"." - Thomas Merton (Thanks Shawna Lemay) India Flint mentioned a workshop being taught in Scotland by Sandra Brownlee in August. TACTILE NOTEBOOKS. It sounds wonderful! Click here to read more about it.
Walter Rast (mixed media on canvas). See website here Many of us are drawn to objects marked by the passage of time and this fascination is often transferred to our art. Looking at the images in this post one can see that some artists use old, sometimes decaying and often patinaed found materials while others achieve the time worn effects through art techniques.
Walter Rast uses materials such as concrete, sand and pigments applied in successive layers. He scrapes back and scratches into the surface and also uses gold leaf and symbols.
"I really love the look and feel of rust. I love it's discarded beauty; the way it proudly wears its history and I love the sense of rediscovery that happens when I begin to work with rusted materials. It feels as if the old, the worn, the forgotten, the discarded and the weary have found; their beauty recognized and valued, and new life given to them." -- Fiona Dempster
"Robert Nickle's collages evoke the passage of time and the present's ambiguity; they forshadow future disintegration. By locking paper detritus-soiled, crumpled, cracked, folded, marked, printed, stained and decaying tags, wrappers, cardboard, foils, etc. - in a poetic time capsule, Nickle shows us where we've been, are, and by progression what the future holds." - Devonna Pieszak
