The Unexpected Gift

Intention. 8x8” acrylic

Last night the doorbell rang. When we got there, just a bag, with “XXX MMM” on it and a bottle of wine inside. MMM: our neighbors’ initials: three-generations, all with names starting with M. An unexpected gift, and we felt loved. A parallel to my lock-down life: unasked for, but, in it’s way, a gift.Rotate reality

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Sometimes when I’m stuck with a piece of art, I’ll turn it upside down, or look at it sideways. Rotating a piece frees the mind to see more clearly. Now I rotate my reality. Paid work, familiar schedule, routine assumptions gone. But look. Rotate reality, and you see the gift is time.

It is a gift to be able to paint each day. It is a gift to drift in a novel or just watch the sunlight change. It is gift to listen to the birds, so clear now without traffic and singing for the spring. Gifts, too, to call friends and wrestle with new technology.

Time to make friends again with my serger, and join the call for mask and nurses scrub caps.

Time to sort out art supplies and donate them to neighbors. While sorting, time as well to reclaim the back spare bedroom.

If my daughter and friend move back in the fall, I’ll move out again. But for now, morning sun and room for collage. But that’s the future. Right now, these gifts.

What matters most

Now

Listen. Love. Create.

Useful discoveries:

• Daily phone calls are a life-line.

• Little gifts go in the mail.

• Bread comes out different every time.

• Painting, collage are worth doing.

• Whatever activity, push past awkwardness: you are getting somewhere.

• When nothing seems to work, stop, breathe, then try something different.

• If you can’t do anything, tidy up.

• Art, like life, is a dance between flow and attention. Be easy on yourself.

For me, a way in has been color. Take two or three colors, see what lies between them. Add white and black. How far can you go? Light to dark. Pure to grey. Infinite steps between. Sink into the discovery.

Build confidence.

Reacquaint yourself with your tools.

Slowly move down the path back into creativity.

Thinking about not-thinking (and what a relief not-thinking is now) brought Zen and the Art of Archery to mind. This description of how the teacher prepares reminded me of how cleaning my studio is a reliable way back to work:

“The preparations for working put him simultaneously in the right frame of mind for creating. The meditative repose in which he performs them gives him that vital loosening and equability of all his powers, that collectedness and presence of mind, without which no right work can be done.” - Eugen Herrigel, Zen in the Art of Archery

Sort through your stash. Arrange your brushes. Begin.

Seeds

steps like seeds

A new start

There’s a joke going around: Why is 2020 is a unique leap year? Because February had 29 days, and March had 500.

We are in April now. Spring at last. In the morning light, these seed pods look like modern sculpture.

COVID-19 has handed me a sort of surprise retirement. Into that space old knowledge/longing reappeared: Time to plant. This weekend I dragged pots to the porch, found the last bit of potting soil. Parsley, dill, zinnias, morning glories, some seeds like sand that will be a surprise. Ordered marigolds and nasturtiums. Hope grows in the garden.

I began a collage series by painting over stacks of class handouts, stuff I won’t need now. It felt great to sweep color across page after page. But the color's I’d mixed were disappointing. The papers looked dull when they dried. Gave it one more go with stencils.

Leftover paints softened the ground papers, 4” cards from scrap Bristol. Tear, rip, rearrange, repeat.

The small acts of creation provided a way back in after weeks of paralysis.

Painted papers mingled with materials found around the house. Color crept in. Gold, green, red. A reflection of returning energy. Sap moving up the tree. There should be leaves soon.

We are all like seeds, waiting for the signal to grow. From what I read, our growth will be slow and unlike what we have known before. So what pieces can we use now, at home? Make do. Be patient. Create with the supplies at hand.

Embrace/change

Embrace

a give-away

Hi there, art friend. How are you doing?

 Really, how are you doing?

I hope this finds you well and safe. I hope you are not worried about money, or someone you love.

Early March feels years away.

Disorganized, angry, adrift - that’s me a lot of the time. Intentions flutter just out of reach. I find it hard to settle down. I need to bear witness. And bake bread. And call friends.

One thing I can do is share. So here is this week’s give-away. Embrace, a 6x6 acrylic painting from this winter’s flower series.

Win a bouquet that will not fade.

Keep it, or give it to a friend. To enter, leave a comment below. Share something that helps you now. Leave a recommendation: podcast, playlist, recording, commentator, or practice. Music, art, on-line gathering. Whatever helps you now. We help each other. I’ll read every one, and next Sunday use a random number generator to pick a winner.

Be sure to check back next week to see if you were the winner.

Free love please

Love

We all need some.

Heavy lifting this week. Constant news. Changing daily. All of us in our homes. How are you coping? Have you managed to carve out a sense of normalcy?

After a week of deer-in-headlights, I can clean. I tinker with long-overdue rote work. I make lists. The order seems to be a starting place, mentally and physically. Creating a space for a new way of being. Painting comes in short bursts. The way’s unknown. Take it one step at a time. Life and art are like that now.

Listen to music, to birds, to words.

• Apps like myNoise and White Noise bring birds, the surf, and other ambient sounds into your headphones. You can create custom combinations.

• Audible has free children’s and classic books. Might be time to go visit Anne of Green Gables or the Wizard of Oz. Adult classics free too.

• Words too much? Spotify’s Brainspotting playlist calmly pushes away worry.

If any of these help, please share them with a friend.

What has helped you? What do you have planned for the week(s) ahead? Please share your suggestions in the comments. . It is always wonderful to hear from you.