Cherish Freedom

The day we commemorate our country’s independence is worth celebrating for so many reasons.  This year. I made this small series of postcards to express the very personal way I cherish freedom in its many forms.  While many institutions and individuals focus on our national freedoms, m ythoughts turned to all the ways my personal values and freedoms align and don’t align with popular nationalist ideals.  The design, colors, shapes and construction of the series were inspired by similarities and differences that my experience of freedom is the same as, and is different from the experienced I hear others talk about. For me, to cherish freedom includes speaking truth and practicing kindness and generosity.  What does it mean for you to cherish freedom?

Perhaps the image will speak to you and encourage you to consider how ideas of what it means to be free and independent in your experience, and ways you express those ideals in your life.

Cherish Freedom
Acrylic on watercolor paper
4 x 6 inches
Series of 18

Cherish Freedom - 1 of 18

Cherish Freedom - 4 of 18

Cherish Freedom - reverse

Chamisa and Sage - Estudio Corazon 2021

I was fortunate to be Artist in Residence at Ghost Ranch in September, 2021.  During my four weeks on the ranch I nurtured my creative spirit, painted, and experimented with new processes.  The landscape provided much inspiration, and among the works I created were a series of 95 postcards, depicting desert sage and Chamisa, also called rabbitbrush.  

Making a large series of these small paintings allowed me to connect with the subject in a wonderful way.  From the examples included in this post, you can see that each one is unique, even though all have a very similar composition, color palette, and general technique.

Chamisa and Sage
Acrylic on paper
4 x 6 inches
Series of 95 paintings

Chamisa and Sage 19/95

Chamisa and Sage 20/95

Chamisa and Sage 33/95

Chamisa and Sage - reverse

Artists Sharing Art

Several years ago, I went to the desert in New Mexico to make art for four weeks.  Five other artists I had never met were also on retreat at the same time in the same place.  We came from six states and for the first few days had no idea whether we really had anything in common or would even get along together.  As time passed and we grew to know one another, friendship developed between individuals and then among the group as a whole.  The bond between us became strong during our shared experience and we remain friends across the miles that separate us.  We talk to each other and as a group quite frequently.  

To stay connected in the creative realm we decided to embark upon a mail art project.  Each of us would make original art postcards and send one to the other members of the group.  

Below are images of the postcards I created using a variety of colorful papers.  The materials, as diverse and colorful as our group, speaks to the beauty that can be created when unexpected elements come together and form a bond.  

Also pictured below are images of the cards I received from each of the other artists.  What a joy it is for me to receive art in the mail from people I love and admire for their own unique gifts. 

Artists Sharing Art
Collage on Watercolor Paper
4" x 6"
Edition of 6

Artists Sharing Art #1

Artists Sharing Art #2

Artists Sharing Art #3

Artists Sharing Art #4

Artists Sharing Art #5

Artists Sharing Art #6

Artists Sharing Art Reverse

iconic by S.K.

Stay Cool by S.O'K.

Dixit Dominus by B.C.

Peace and Blessings by B.M.

Welcome Back to NM!! by B.S.

Love More Every Day - Love Every Day More

My tradition of making and sending Valentine's Day greetings continues this year. 

Love More Every Day - Love Every Day More
Linoleum block printed with acrylic paint on paper
4" x 6"
Edition of 102

Circles of Healing

When you are not feeling well, would your body and your spirit enjoy receiving art in the mail?   This small series of postcards was made with the specific intention of sending good wishes to my friends who are ill or recovering.  Healing is a complex endeavor with many elements and factors playing a part.  Layers and combinations of color and shape call the complexity to mind but in a way that is hopeful and bright.  

I hope that receiving a surprise of art in the mail helps to make the day a little brighter and the burden a little lighter.

Circles of Healing
Mixed media on paper
4" x 6"
Edition of 6

Enough Love for Everyone

Making Valentine’s Day art cards has brought me joy for many years, and for just as many years, I found joy in sharing these art cards with people I know and total strangers.  This year is no different.  

The design idea for this card started with a poem I ran across just before Christmas last year.  The poem tells a story of s person who is kissed under a bough of mistletoe.  The thing the poem does not reveal is whether the kiss is real, or imagined, or a dream.  It is a wonderfully ambiguous telling and I share it with you here:

MISTLETOE 

Sitting under the mistletoe
(Pale-green, fairy mistletoe),
One last candle burning low,
All the sleepy dancers gone,
Just one candle burning on,
Shadows lurking everywhere:
Some one came, and kissed me there.

Tired I was; my head would go
Nodding under the mistletoe
(Pale-green, fairy mistletoe),
No footsteps came, no voice, but only,
Just as I sat there, sleepy, lonely,
Stooped in the still and shadowy air
Lips unseen—and kissed me there.

Walter de La Mare
1873–1956

Walter de la Mare, born on April 25, 1873 in London, is considered one of modern literature’s chief exemplars of the romantic imagination. His complete works form a sustained treatment of romantic themes: dreams, death, rare states of mind and emotion, fantasy worlds of childhood, and the pursuit of the transcendent.

For Valentine’s Day this year, I want there to be no doubt of love and affection I hold for all my friends, and for all of humankind.  Love is difficult sometimes, particularly in these days when it feels like there is so much division and animosity in the world.  I believe there is enough love for everyone; there should be no hesitation in sharing that with people we know and people we don’t know.  

Enough Love for Everyone.
Size:  4” x 6”
Edition size:  158
Medium:  Acrylic, rubber stamps, mixed media
Ground:  Watercolor paper

If My Heart Had Wings

The inspiration for my Valentine’s Day postcard this year led me to this poem by Gene Olson, a poet who lives “somewhere in western Canada.”  

If My Heart Had Wings

by Gene Olson

 

If my heart had wings

It could not fly any higher 

Than it does when you and I are together 

 

The sweet sound of your breathing 

Your unrelenting breathing 

Oh my…what it does to me 

 

In your laughter I can feel your smile 

I can just tell that it starts in your eyes 

But, you must know, it ends deep in the pit of my soul 

 

Your voice, so sweet and soulful 

It raises my spirits whenever I hear it 

It has embedded itself deep in my dreams 

 

Oh…your sighs when we share an intimate moment 

They take my breath away 

As if you are breathing my soul deep into your being 

 

Your whit, it snaps like a whip 

And takes me by surprise every time 

So quick and intelligent, it always brings a smile to my face 

 

And your jealousy, what a sight to behold 

It strikes like a snake, overpowering your prey 

Leaving them whimpering in a corner like spineless jellyfish

 

Your beautiful mind though, that’s what I love 

Sharing our thoughts, our dreams and our fantasies 

It’s what drives you deep into my heart 

 

Your girlish flirtations, hehe 

How I do love them 

That’s what drew me to you like a moth to the flame 

 

But your heart, your ever-loving heart 

It has devoured me and engulfed me in its warmth 

It is the glue that binds my soul to yours 

 

If my heart had wings 

It could not fly any higher 

For it already soars on the currents of our love 

 

I first read Olson's poetry on PoemHunter.com, where he writes the following about himself:

 

"I live in a small town somewhere in western Canada. I am a fire officer in our local fire department and I am grateful to have the chance to help those who can not help themselves. I recently began writing poetry out of a need to express my feelings and as you will see, I try to put as much feeling into my poems as possible. I live life to the fullest of my abilities and enjoy the benefits of family and good friends. I write for myself, but I hope you can find some enjoyment in my rudimentary poems. Thank you for reading them."  

 

This Mail Art Project consists of two parts, each featuring a linoleum cut print of a heart with wings.  The first 65 cards in the edition has the print over a watercolor background intended to evoke the vastness of space and the limitlessness of the universe.  The second 40 cards in the edition was made by printing over fragments of acrylic paintings of the sky and abstract landscapes.

 

Please leave a comment about how this project resonates with you, then check out my other posts and share this blog with your friends.

 

Vaccine Odyssey: Where will the journey lead?

My personal journey through the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging in many ways. Since word of this novel virus began circulating, I was asked by my employer to be part of a small team that would monitor the science, consider impacts to the workforce, recommend actions, and communicate important information to employees.  After more than a year, these activities have taken a personal toll on my physical and mental health, and have proven to be an obstacle to my own understanding of the effects the pandemic is having on me in ways that are distinct from the organization that employed me.

Part of my pandemic journey was a decision to retire from my 30 year career in public service.  But leaving has taken a long time because I was asked to continue working part-time for six months past my official retirement date.   It pleases me to have finished my last assignments and to be finally, fully and completely finished with that chapter of my life; I finally have time to think about the personal impacts of the pandemic, of  being vaccinated, and of establishing new routines that do not revolve around the demands of employment.  I have begun a new journey in my life.

What I am finding in these few short weeks of being retired during a pandemic (because the pandemic may be slowing but it is not yet over) is that life seems more complicated instead of being more simple.  What are my priority projects?  Should I go out more? Is it safe to gather with friends?  What about activities outside the safety of our home, and mixing with strangers?  What size crowd is too big or too dangerous?    When do I need to wear a cloth covering over my nose and mouth?  What will fill my days if I no longer have the pandemic and other professional obligations to occupy my time and my thoughts?  What time should I get up in the morning?

My journey is something of a messy endeavor and I find it is rarely easy.  The journey of finding a “new normal” for me means accepting that things will never be the way they were before in so many ways.  It means giving up the sense of community I felt with my work group, and giving up the physical separations that have become familiar and somewhat comfortable in these past 15 months.  It means finding a new focus and meaningful activities to fill my days.

The introduction of vaccines to combat COVID-19 sends us on a journey out of the restrictions that preserved my health during the pandemic, and into a place and routines that are new and unfamiliar.  My personal journey into retirement is similar and simultaneous, yet distinctly different even though is part of the same whole.

Vaccine Odyssey: Where will the journey lead?

Each postcard in this edition of 108 was individually painted using acrylic colors on watercolor paper, printed with an original linoleum block cut, and varnished to protect the surface.  

Please leave a comment about how this resonates with you, then check out my other posts and share this blog with your friends.

Vaccine Odyssey (front, view 1)

Vaccine Odyssey (front, view 2)

Vaccine Odyssey (front, view 3)

Vaccine Odyssey (reverse)

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Valentine's Day is tricky.  We all want to know someone is remembering us fondly on that day above most others.  Evidence of the remembering lifts one's soul; complex feelings follow if we feel un-remembered.  Memories of feeling un-remembered many long years ago still haunt me, and at the same time inspire me. 

I have for many years made cards and given them to friends and strangers I encounter in person on Valentine's Day.  In recent years, it has become a significant undertaking since people in my work and personal circles have come to know of my practice and have found themselves in my path on February 14.

Making art brings me joy.  Sharing art brings me joy.  At the height of a global pandemic that requires continued social distancing, obstacles to making art are not necessarily significant at the same time the obstacle of sharing art in person is relatively immense.  My answer to the obstacle is mail art.

This year's Valentine's Day art offering is inspired by a poem written by e. e. cummings.  In its verses, the ideas of holding within, going together, admiration, and deep affection are expressed by the author.  The art illustrates a heart held and leaves one to consider what it is to hold, and what it means to be held.  This year in particular, these themes resonate for me as I share Valentine greetings.  I am delighted to include the poem in this post as I mail postcards to some who I will not see on Valentine's Day this year but carry in my heart.

[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]

BY E. E. CUMMINGS

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

                                                      i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Each postcard in this edition of 144 was individually painted using acrylic colors on watercolor paper and varnished to protect the surface.  

Please check out my other posts on this blog and share this blog with your friends.