How does a piece of art come about? For my printmaking, I work largely from my imagination and usually as a response to poetry. Mary Oliver's Wild Geese did inspire the feeling of this art, but initially there were two different elements coming into play.
The first element is a drawing I did on BART a few years ago. I often draw on public transit.
It was easy enough to re-draw this figure onto my lino and think about the setting I would give her. The second element was my recent trip to Green Gulch and the long walk to Muir Beach. There's a bench at the top of the rise where you can watch the ocean roll in.
What would it look like if I added those two things? What colors could I use to evoke that end of summer feeling? Could those colors evoke the way the light changes in the Bay Area?
The colors from the tube weren't giving me what I needed even when I attempted to mix them. I decided to take another leap of imagination and craft my own ink. I used dry pigment powder and transparent base to create the colors I wanted. I got something worthwhile that I wouldn't have arrived at otherwise. Naturally, this leads to more art.
Emily Dickinson has a line in a poem about the great responsibility of flowers. Thinking about this, I drew a flower head directly on my lino. All the color you see was ink I crafted. It's a lot of work carving all those lines for such a simple image. What if I used a jigsaw technique to add to this image for something bigger?
I added some extras to support my flower. It was hours of ink making, carving different lino blocks and hand-printed. It's the largest relief print I've ever done. The work came out as I planned, but am I happy with it? I'm not sure. Will I try again, you bet I will.
There's a famous quote by Picasso that says: "The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away." Shortly after the universe saw fit for me to read this quote, our friend Bill went into the hospital. He had been suffering with stomach cancer and wasn't feeling well. I sent him a picture of my most recent painting as a way to cheer him up. He asked for the painting.
 It was hard to let go of this painting. It's small, but I had put a lot of effort into it. Of course, I sent it to him. I hope that it brought him comfort the final weeks of his life. I hope that the Quan Yin is safe with Bill's family and doing her work.
Letting go also leads to more art. I've challenged myself to attempt a larger painting and am currently drawing it on scrap paper to see how this goes. The drawing is 16x20 and is giving me some challenges.
I'll show you what happens next when I see you again. Take care everyone!
Comments