Greetings on the last day of February! There is a renewed energy and discipline in the studio these days….perhaps buoyed up by the possibilities that spring will bring. Maybe you feel it too….is hope around the corner? A new series is underway, which is going by the name Flying Dreams. The drawings are large format (relatively speaking), vertical compositions on Stonehenge paper, clocking in at a monumental (for me!) size of 22x15”. They are the result of a willingness to let go and allow randomness and play rule the day. I am much more comfortable in a smaller, more intimate scale, as those familiar with my work will know. And so, in a spirit of abandon and breaking boundaries, I ushered the inner critic out the door and decided to go for broke. There was really nothing at stake and nothing to lose. What’s the worst that could happen….another failed drawing to tear apart for collage pieces down the road?

As these pieces began to take shape, I became aware of a couple of things. While I wanted to explore random marks, which I find more interesting, I saw myself becoming more careful and holding on to things that I liked…and sometimes trying, even just below consciousness, to repeat marks, which caused a sense of internal struggle…a kind of tug-of-war. And yet, as I reminded myself, letting go is letting go and that means a willingness to take chances. For me, those surprises that occur when I do let go, are the source of delight and joy. Those moments don’t happen by a force of will. There is an inner working going on that I must trust….and that is the source of struggle between the need for control and the desire to let go.

The other aspect of the pieces that had me intrigued was the vertical sense of space that called to mind many compositions in Chinese and Japanese art. This might be stretch to anyone else, but there was a link of familiarity that I recognized from my love of seeing these beautiful pieces in museums across the country. I was intrigued by what I perceived as my own take on this sense of flattened two-dimensional vertical space. While I am not, in any sense, depicting a three dimensional world on the flat surface of the paper, there is some vague reminiscence for me of the vertical nature of the compositions I’ve seen. I am intrigued enough to explore more about the Japanese sense of space in an article I found in Contemporary Aesthetics, by Ken-ichi Sasaki, entitled Perspectives East and West.

The other lesson for me is this: the magic cycle of doing and discovery, learning through making. Everything we see and experience adds to our expanded understanding of the world and if we are open and curious, there are endless horizons to explore. Would I have been curious enough about the use of space and perspective in Japanese art to find out more about it, had I not made these random marks that developed into finished pieces? I don’t know, but I am now more curious than ever. I am inspired and reminded of the vast richness in the universe, in which each of us is maker of the tapestry that is the story of our humanity. The threads we weave day-by-day are both visible and invisible.

Hope you find inspiration somewhere in your encounters during the coming week. Cheers!