A Week of Dailies

Wow....the last day of January has nearly come and gone! This year is moving quickly and with January under our belt, it seems safe to look longingly, at least with one eye open, for spring within reach. Although it's been cold, this has been a surprisingly non-white winter for us....I know that much of the country has been digging themselves out from under inches and feet of snow for over a month. Here, we've gotten nothing....oh, a snow shower or two, but nothing that amounts to anything. The other morning we got up for yoga and it was 47 degrees with light rain, but by the time we each left for work a little over an hour later, the temperature had dropped to 25 and there was a nice coat of ice on the roads! A roller coaster of a winter, to be sure.

Meanwhile, here in the sanctuary of home and studio, I spend my time away from the library reading and making my daily drawings and found text poems. Thought I'd share this week's daily drawings....these are the small 6x4" drawings on Japanese paper that get dipped in beeswax. These may or may not find their way into the exhibition that Johntimothy and I are working toward with our daily practices, but I think they just might. They will remain single pages and perhaps be kept together in small folded paper holders, like the loose pages of a manuscript. The other daily drawings I am doing, which I'll share eventually are on 10x10" Rives printmaking paper...it is interesting to see them develop as well, usually informed somehow by what happens each morning with these tiny drawings. I just sit down and let my hand lead the pen where it will....the drawing unfolds before me....like in today's daily poem!

Found text poem, Jan. 31, 2014

January 25, 2014

January 26, 2014

January 27, 2014

January 28, 2014

January 29, 2014

January 30, 2014

January 31, 2014

Hope you've had a great start to the year! There are still a couple of hours for the 40% sale in my Etsy shops. The coupon (use coupon code FINDINGAHOME) is set to expire February 1st, which amounts to midnight EST. If you are interested, check out my shops MissouriBendStudio and MissouriBendMusings If you are reading this before next Saturday, February 8th, 2014 and miss that deadline, but want to take advantage of the 40% discount on artwork, I am extending the same 40% to my blog readers, so use the coupon code: BLOGFRIENDS, which will expire February 8th at midnight EST. I am happy to have these works go to loving homes, so look forward to hearing from you!  All the best to you for a happy and productive February....see you soon!

The Daily Practice Unfolding

The year is starting off well and I attribute my more upbeat outlook to the effect of my daily practice. I am someone who thrives on little rituals...they ground me, providing a kind of rhythm to my day. I've maintained a daily drawing practice for a few years, although not always super consistently. In fact, my Missouri Bend Musings Etsy shop was created as a place to share and make available those daily drawings. I fell away from the selling component of the practice and shifted the daily drawing practice to something more private. At its core, I find much of my art making is really a spiritual practice and the efforts required to market the pieces really take away from what the making of them provides me. Although the little drawings I make now on 6x4" Japanese paper do not require a significant amount of time, there is something about letting a simple drawing flow onto the paper from the movement of my hand and a drawing tool, that provides a release. The act of making them acknowledges the creative spirit and leaves a trace, the marks on the page a quiet form of thanks for the day at hand. Below are the drawings from this past week...on 6"x4" Japanese paper, each of which have now been dipped in beeswax. The little row of dots at the top is my way of marking the date: left to right the number of dots corresponds to the month, day and year.

January 7, 2014

January 8, 2014

January 9, 2014

January 10 ,2014

January 11, 2014

January 12, 2014

January 13, 2014

I've also made little found text poems over the years and my first blog MissouriBendPaperWorks was dedicated to that daily practice. Again, it was the effort of photographing and posting that bogged me down. So...I'm back to making those again as well....another daily practice. There is something quite delightful about taking random words and phrases cut from books and arranging them in a new way....somehow the "poem" that comes from each day's exercise is a little revelation. I've posted a few over on my Facebook page and I'll do the same here on occasion. These are the two from yesterday and today. The words of just glued to a sheet of 6"x 4" drawing paper.

January 12th found text poem

In case you can't read it:

live a long journey

slip into the universe

leave a trace

in the sand

January 13th found text poem

Today's was rather humorous....

So, I just wanted to share with you that I'm back to incorporating these daily practices into my life and more fully realizing how much grounding they do provide. Periodically, I will share a few of the things that I make as a part of each day's unfolding and encourage you to find a way to slow down, mark time and leave a trace of another day spent in the dance of life. I'd love to hear from any other artists who include a daily artistic practice....what do you do and how does it enhance your life and the way you move through your days?

Oh, I nearly forgot! Suddenly today I decided that there is a mountain of work sitting on my back table, which comprises the contents of my two Etsy shops, MissouriBendStudio and MissouriBendMusings. Many of those pieces are now older and would love to travel to a good home....it's a BIG 40% off sale in both shops! Use the coupon code: FINDINGAHOME to receive the discount and I'll thank you in advance for giving my pieces a loving home.

Found Text Poetry Card

Another of the "found" found text poetry cards....I'm still trying to figure out if these seven cards were meant to be read together or not...it's been quite a number of years since I made them.  I think they'll probably tell me eventually...

found text reads:

enormous change

time among the gifts

as if scanning

other languages

the daily concerns of casualties

much envy and resentment

curious