"MY" MOUNTAIN REALLY DOES LOOK LIKE THIS

LIVING THE ART SPIRIT On the edge of the desert

On the edge of the desert,
at the base of the mountain,
in between now and then...
There is a freshness
surrounding the familiar.
A chance to take on
vulnerability, moving forward
fearlessly.
THAT is the freshness.


AND, in the air
that warm chill on the cheek,
just a short-lived wisp
as the light begins to
kiss
my spirit.

neva, july 11, 2010
taos

Edward Hopper postcard altered for a new San Francisco friend.

THAT was day one of the week long workshop with Sas Colby, Studio in the Sky, at the MabelDodgeLuhan house in Taos. . .called Living the Art Spirit, my annual trek into my favorite place ...

between sessions, i worked in my journal....

"A bird doesn't sing because it needs an answer. It sings because it has a song."

Imagine under one roof being nourished. Listening. Waiting.

What is the real purpose of art?

Seeing.

Taking time to notice what's buried below.

Seeing in a new way

with Reflection.

Remembering.

Making connections. Putting parts together.

Experiencing: the freedom of a weathered feather.

Sharing.

and Playing with new materials.......

while "singing my song".

the "SCAN artist" demystified, (check out link in side bar re: Doris Mitsch)

 

 

 

 

INQUIRING minds wanted to know:
the image of the lip rock and pods in the last post was scanned on my printer, and using a friend's mac, layered with a photograph i'd taken of buddha...creating the first collage.
the second image is a layered "multiple exposure" of the flowers in the last image and was made with my picasa program. limited possibilities with that.

the mac, as many of you know, with photoshop, is very exciting to me.
it's now on THE LIST!!!

the SCAN artist.....?

exciting lesson

oldest rock
symbolic pods

process

(desiring a mac)

How to Share: Buddhafully

 

 

 

for a friend
you'd share anything.
for a friend,
you'd create ...
call & response.
how to be there
while being here.

when you don't know what to do,
do something. the right thing happens.

(Collage recipe: one of your paintings, some of your photographs, glue, wax, heat, apply...THEN, CUT INTO TWO TO SHARE, turn, look, send half off in the mail. which half did i send? the top photo shows the 2 parts put back together, with cut line)

the incredible lightness of rocks...

 

 

 

 

just delivered these "newly enraptured rocks" of mine to Folio Salon...
using more of my images/photographs/drawings, a large crystal, as well as 1850's period Japanese wood block papers (the hand/japanese lettering) ~~~~~
my friend noticed that these are so much lighter than the last group.
and they indeed are. these smooth greyish-white stones call for that, and i respond.

here's Pablo Neruda's homage to the crystal:

"Quartz opens its eyes in the snow
and grows spiky,
slipping on the white
into its own whiteness:
multiplying the mirrors
it poses in facets, at angles:
white sea urchin
from the depths,
it is son of the salt
that shoots up to heaven,
glacial orange blossom
of silence,
very principle of foam:

by virtue of the earth's pride
the clarity that awaits me."

changing perspective

 

 

"THE REAL VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY CONSISTS NOT OF SEEKING NEW LANDSCAPES BUT IN HAVING NEW EYES"
marcel proust

what changes can come through
retrospective perception
when viewing life, work

the continuum when we're privledged enough to be given time to turn our heads, our eyes, our hearts~~

(fyi: above~one of my paintings, turned from horizontal to vertical...)

NOW It's all you have...

 

 

 

"MUCH LOVE BEING SENT TO AN ETERNAL FRIEND", Reb

that's the 'closing' to a message from MY eternal friend Rebecca, who IS part of the "now that i always have", one of many reminders from her. I MISS HER, but to quote more of one of the many, many emails we shared, i record a few that were all part of note intended to give me the name of her above painting in September, 2003, which i now have with me on my wall:
it's titled
"HE WHO JUMPS INTO THE VOID OWES NO EXPLANATION TO THOSE WHO STAND AND WATCH"
jean luc godard.

Reb gave me so much, like: "I try to remember to live in the ocean and not merely be a wave. This does not mean that I don't forget and become the fierce or funny little wave much of the time......to see you again, or not, is not important because your essence and my own are jewels in a larger sky...we exist...always, in our friendship to one another."

'Turning to the One Mind,
I find my Buddhahood,
above self and others,
beyond coming and going,
this will remain
when all else is gone.'

Tanzan (1819-1892)

her birthday, may 21, my friend forever.
aren't i so fortunate?
(a little misty eyed, but fortunate)
so many cups of fresh brewed coffee in the kitchen,
of margarittas on the patio.

{she gave me lessons, memories,
the sense that she's ever here,
especially through an astonishingly brilliant daughter
and grandson ...}

the luminosity of spring~~~ awakens the mind

 

 

 

'The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you---
don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want--
don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill,
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open--
don't go back to sleep.'

`mevlana jelaluddin rumi`

growth shared: mothers and more

 

 

i thought i'd use these two monoprints (the empty silhouette filled by nature) made last year
to coax out some thoughts about nurturing and growth and friendship:

true.
mother's day can do that,
ring memories up in me
of mom helping me along,
wanting for me what she couldn't have had.

mother made me dresses like these early on, when she could.
gave me the outdoors to dream away my cares...
a clothesline duty to feel the breezes
blow faraway places into my head,
inner thoughts out.

faraway places, sometimes exciting,
often empty~ but never for long.

spirited friends have helped heal my heart
and let breezes, and dreams, ruffle me around again.