Awakening to My History
Sometimes, I discover a photo or some other record of something I have created in the past, awakening curiousity. I’ve happened upon these things and then wondered, “Who did that? I’d like to see more,” or “Oh, there it is!!” Other times I simply experience chagrin, “Oh yuck! I thought I destroyed all record of that!”
Right now I am in the process of cleaning up this site, as it is going to be merged with several other of sites into a single site which presents a more complete picture of what I have to offer. I stumbled across this post: What words describe this painting?
I wondered where I got the image, so I went in search of… It turns out it was from a two-sided 3D piece called Awakening which I made for the Outside the Box Show at Placer Arts.
I completed the piece, photographed it, and delivered it to the show in a short period of time. I really enjoyed doing it as much as any of the pieces I’ve done for that show, because of the incorporation of sculptural problems to be solved. Awakening represents a pleasing marriage of techniques used in my early sculpture work in graduate school and my current painting.
I don’t know where this piece ended up. The way that show worked at the time, I never found out who bought it. Here is the other side of it, which hasn’t been shared before:
Having found more bamboo out on my walks, I just might play with this idea some more. I am working at awakening my sculptural urges again, as well as the 2D work.
Ever the optimist
always doing the “right” thing
Waiting patiently
for the inevitable good ending
right outcome
Putting in ever more elbow grease
effort unceasing
Dealing with cards dealt
finding the lining
or at least hints of it
With smile and hope
and bits of sparkle
“Embrace the impossible,”
was all that she said
Yet like a digging vole
it got ensconced within his head
So blessings came and went
and miracles happened when knees bent
Life stretched to encompass
experience rich and deep
whenever ideas and actions
like a fine cup of tea steeped
• • •
One word, two, or maybe, three
can change the world, and do
every day, all the time
So, what do you say?
Distilled essence emerges when still
having gone through the fire
heat of passionate emotion
at the eternal spring
spirit’s grace
Refreshing , soothing
awakened, still
Sailing on the E-moceans
with crisp breezes
countered by undercurrents
of vast feelings
Fastened with instruments
ingeniously designed
to harness even difficult waves
Enough to catch enormous energy
for useful purposes (or porpoises?)
How clever!!!
Across the world
in the curl of a smile
eyes crinkled and engaged
Sagas sung as ragas
going on for ages like bronze
or other forensic terms
pass by in the single beat of a butterfly wing
That which separates the space between us
is the same
as that which supports the illusion
of ever marching time
As I enter the mythical maze
with a smiling ticket
and a pocket full of incongruities
synapses occur
It used to be in days of yore
or yesterday, by my count
You could cut the fabric of life
in two ways, typical straight
or zigzag – to prevent fraying
Until fancy craft scissors
came along in plastic tubs
Made in China
• • •
She was cut from a different cloth
some edges ripped or torn along the way
some cut with fancy scissors curlicued
while others frayed
Wrinkled in time
yet, time itself cut straight through
leaving her meanderings in but a moment
Her days spent as they started
gone before they blossomed
yellow drifters flit and glide
rising all around us
like powdered earth
poofing warm around bare toes
wafting clouds of fertile dirt
air close and fragrant rich
• • •
meadow embraces
puffy clouds peek
expansive sky
The plight of the humble me
buzzes around like a bumbling insect
sharing fertile, fluffy pollen willy-nilly
or so it would seem
Sometimes, it sticks
eventually
bearing right-sized fruit
Other times, it does not
Loud and willful barrenness
where twigs once sprouting die
Apparent patterns shimmer
among the dappled sunlight
shadows play in humility
ever dancing past the music’s end…
Between
extremes of this or that
A nother
time making the choice
which feels cleanest, most natural
L oving
it all unconditionallly
In harmony and forgiveness
without judgement
A ligned
with intention
for highest good
N urturing
acceptance and self-care
C entered
in Being, doing from center
E volving
with compassion and consciousness
