The One Thing

I'm having a great day in the studio, which isn't always the case!  I'm working to resolve my part of a collaborative exhibition with my husband and the deadline is looming...August 24th.  We've been working on this for most of the summer, but somehow I haven't been able to make anything that feels right.  Now, I understand what I'm to do. This morning I started drawing in white ink onto of the blackboard painted paper and before I knew it...the channel opened and I was right there in the flow, drawing those tiny circles that connect endlessly...like seeds or cells.  I realized that it's always about getting to the essence, the "one" thing, that gets at the core of something.  I knew in the middle of the first drawing, that all 36 drawings would each be an exploration of the one thing...the way the those interlocking little circles in white ink laid on top of the black chalkboard paint and interacted with the pencil.  It was a time of meditation as I connected tiny circle after tiny circle, stopping on each one when the shape declared itself and then moving on to the next piece.  When this kind of thing happens for me, this moment of recognition, I feel it in the pit of my stomach....I am in a flow where my hand is making the thing I am longing to see.  Simplicity, simplicity itself.

There are a couple of images in of the pieces in progress above...more will happen on the black chalkboard paint, but the drawing in the white ink is what the pieces are about....in a way I can't describe in words.

A Continuation

Pattern Play no.4 is shown here, one of latest listings in my etsy.com shop.  It's hard to read the feedback on these new works and whether people are responding to them or not.  I'm going to try to juggle making these, along with more of the Season Cycles, so I can play more easily with collage and embroidery in the pieces.  It's always a balancing act, isn't it?   Would love to hear comments--positive or negative about any of the work shown on the blog!  Cheers!

Pattern Play, no. 1

Well, I finally have a few pieces finished in the new series of work in watercolor and ink.  I like the new format of the house...a shape that has appeared over and over again in my work in the past decades.  It allows me to play various patterns against each other, as well as juxtapose a simple image in the center.  Somehow, as much as I love abstraction and pure pattern, I can't seem to let go of the image...now I can have it all!  New pieces posted at my shop this morning.

Patterns of Nature, no.1

Patterns of Nature, no.1 is a sort of prototype for a new series in watercolor and ink.  I've taken the format of this one a step further and added a contrasting patterned roof and a little circle with an image in the center of the square...they'll resemble birdhouses!  I do love making pattern and this is a way to play endlessly with the combinations.  This piece is posted in my shop on Etsy.