The Art of Being

My husband has been very busy this summer.  This torii gate has become the entrance to my Zen house.

The effect of building a space within a space is very powerful.

This is the path of stones to the entrance of my Zen house.

Line becoming object becoming space.

My husband built this Zen house (green house) several years ago.  Graced with bonsai outside and bird cages,

bird nests, buddha, rabbit vane, rocks fill the space within.

The effect of the Zen house is to give form to the surrounding gardens.  Within are

sweeping gestures of light and space.

Small pots of bonsai, help fill the space like a coloring book.

Here I am making boundaries, defining a space just to be.

Simply creating a space, enclosed and separate from the wild: a niche to feel safe inside of.

A moss ball I made earlier this summer with a rabbit fern.  It is sitting on white rocks in a lovely flat pot.

Some of my nest and rock collections.

More nests.

Another moss ball I made earlier this summer.  It is a rabbit fern and is attached to a piece of bamboo.

Back outside the Zen house...  at the entrance.  

My husband built 3 bamboo gates this summer.

Closing the gate, building the wall, we shut out the wild but still maintain the wild within.

The intent is to be at one with our environment.

The Art of Being

The fern in the rain breathes the silver message.

Stay, lie low.  Play your dark reeds

and relearn the beauty of absorption.

There is nothing beyond the rotten log

covered with leaves and needles.

Forget the light emerging with its golden wick.

Raise your face to the water-laden frond.

A thousand blossoms will fall into your arms.

-- Anne Corey, from A Measure's Hush 

 

 

 

 

 

The Beauty of Nothingness

THE BEAUTY OF NOTHINGNESS, book by Donna Watson

"Creativity has more to do with the elimination of the inessential than with inventing something

new."  ----  Helmut John

THE BEAUTY OF NOTHINGNESS,  Donna Watson, page 9

I found some blank journals that were perfect for creating a book.  They are square in format which I like.  The paper seemed sturdy enough for collage and the best of all, the pages lie flat when opened.

And the journal is not too thick....just 45 pages which was perfect for what I wanted to do.

THE BEAUTY OF NOTHINGNESS,  Donna Watson,  page 14

I had been reading books on Zen all summer and I wanted to use words and phrases that helped to explain a Zen tenet... the importance of NOTHINGNESS.  Emptiness or nothingness in Zen philosophy can be mistaken for sheer nothingness, but is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities.

THE BEAUTY OF NOTHINGNESS,  Donna Watson,  page 20

In meditation, one can 'empty' their mind of all the daily clutter, the constant inner dialogue that can be distracting, negative or creating barriers.

THE BEAUTY OF NOTHINGNESS,  Donna Watson,  page 21

The Still Point is at the heart of creativity.  In Zen, you access this still point through meditation.

To be quiet, to simply be in the moment, and in stillness.... is the basis of our existence.  It is not a void... but a means to empty yourself from the incessant flow of thoughts and create a state of

consciousness that is open and receptive.

THE BEAUTY OF NOTHINGNESS,  Donna Watson,  page 27

As one counts the breath:  inhale, one;  exhale, two...  the mind empties of all the incessant inner dialogue of judging, complaining, analyzing, wishing and so on.  We can spend our time preoccupied

with the past, or with the future which has not happened yet.  As a result we miss the moment to moment awareness of our life.

THE BEAUTY OF NOTHINGNESS,  Donna Watson,  page 29

After 2 trips to Kyoto, Japan and their flea markets, I had accumulated a large supply of old envelopes, old letters, post cards, receipts and books.  I used these envelopes and letters as well as my hand painted rice papers to create 43 collages (43 pages in the book).  I have posted some of the pages here as examples from the book.  You can view the whole book at this Blurb.com link here.

You can also purchase the book.  There are 3 options:  soft bound and 2 hardbound versions.

THE BEAUTY OF NOTHINGNESS,  Donna Watson,  page 37

"There are two journeys in every odyssey, one on worried water, the other crouched and motionless, without noise."  ---  Derek Walcott

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Dark to Dawn

Histories, assemblage by Donna Watson

I'm back.  Some of you may have noticed that my blog posts have been on a long hiatus.  After 2 years of health issues, I have spent the past several months trying to change my life style including diet, mediation and yoga.  All these changes have taken much of my energy and focus so my short hiatus turned into a much longer unplanned break from the blog world.  

I have also tried to get back into my art work, and studio and this strong effort also proved to be more difficult than I thought it would be.

Identity, collage by Donna Watson

 

"A time of bleakness can also be a time of pruning.  Sometimes when our minds are dispersed and

scattered, this pruning cuts away all of the false branching where our passion and energy were leaking out.  While it is painful to experience and endure this, a new focus and clarity emerge."

      ---- John O'Donahue,  Beauty:  The Invisible Embrace:   "The Lost Voice"

 

Identity 2, collage by Donna Watson

 

And in my new found focus, energy and desire to get back to work in my studio, I focussed on the trees and did not see the forest.  I concentrated on techniques and mediums and what I wanted to

paint, which only led to more frustrations.  I forgot why I wanted to paint.

 

Promise me

You will not spend

so much time

treading water

and trying to keep your

head above the waves

that you forget, 

truly forget,

how much you have

always loved to swim.

--- Tyler Knott Gregson

 

".... all progress must come from deep within and cannot be pressed or hurried by anything.  Everything is gestation and then bringing forth.  To let each impression and each germ of a feeling come to completion wholly in itself, in the dark.... and await with deep humility and patience the birth-hour of a new clarity:  that alone is living the artist's life, in understanding as in creating."

   --- Rainer Maria Rilke

 

    

 

 

 

A Glimmer of Light

 Donna Watson, Glimpse of Light, acrylic, collage, 20"x20"

NOTE:  There are a few openings left in my upcoming 4 day workshop in Coupeville, WA.

May 20-23.  PERSONAL EXPRESSION:  A Design Approach.  Coupeville is a small, beautiful town on the Puget Sound on Whidbey Island.  The workshop is for all mediums and styles of painting as the focus is on composition, design elements and principles and personal content and expression.

You will begin your search for your true self.  Go here for more information and to register.   

I am starting to see a glimmer of light in my studio.  I decided that the work BLOCK is such a negative word.  I am trying to look at what I am going through as a rebirth, a new opening, a

different new exciting path.

I want to unfold.

I don't want to stay folded

Anywhere, because where I am folded,

There I am a lie.

And I want my grasp of things 

True before you.  I want to

Describe myself 

Like a painting that I

Looked at closely for a 

Long time, like a saying that 

I finally understood,

Like the pitcher I use every day,

Like the face of my mother

Like a ship

That took me safely through

The wildest storm of all.

-- Rainer Maria Wilke

   

The Dark Side of Light

Donna Watson, SILENCE, 10"x10", collage

I have taken a longer than usual hiatus from my blog.  I have been dealing with a larger art issue.

I have been coming to terms with the truth that I am deep in what is called artist's BLOCK.  I have been in this dark place for over a year.  Until recently,  I always denied that piece of reality and I think overcoming denial is the first step forward.

I have been struggling with health issues for 2 years.  I have gone from doctor to doctor, many blood tests, MRIs, bone scans, x-rays.  The chronic pain and chronic fatigue almost defeated me and took over my life style and art.  During this period, I became bored with my art work.  I wanted to search for a new series, a new content... something deeper and more meaningful.  But my brain was busy firing off pain pulses and I could not focus or concentrate on anything else.  Black. dark, empty.

 2 months ago I went to a new doctor.  I finally got a diagnosis and I decided to do everything I could to get my life and health back.  I went on a strict diet eliminating all white and processed foods, alcohol and chocolate.  I started a daily regimen of meditation, tai chi and yoga.

I am feeling so much better.  It turns out diet, exercise and meditation can have a huge impact on your health.  But I am still facing the devastating and all-consuming thing called BLOCK.  I thought that once I felt better my art would come back to me like magic.  Not so.

"Your creativity is folded into your life in a way that can not be quantified or qualified.  It is a simple premise, yet profound."  Susanne Carmack.  She wrote an inspirational essay on artist's block you can find here.     Her website is here.

Inside each of us

there awaits a wonder

full

spirit of freedom

she waits

to dance 

in the rooms

of our heart

that are closed

dark and cluttered

she waits

to dance

in the spaces

where negative feelings

have build barricades

and stock-piled weapons

she waits 

to dance 

in the corners

where we still

do not believe in our goodness

inside each of us

there awaits

a wonder

full

spirit of freedom

she will lift light feet

and make glad songs

within us

on the day we open our door of ego

and let the enemies stomp out

Joyce Rupp,  The Stair in my heart

Life Threads

Detail from the collage COMPLETION by Donna Watson

NOTE:  4 Day workshop, May 20-23.  At Coupeville, on Beautiful Whidbey WA.

PERSONAL EXPRESSION:  A Design Approach.  This workshop is open to all mediums and all styles of painting, including collage.  For more information and to register go to the website:

www.pacificnorthwestartschool.org.    

some letters I have received from art buddies in 2012

"At the center of your being

you have the answer;

you know who you are and 

you know what you want."

--- Lao Tzu

some tags I have received from art buddies in 2012

"In the end, only three things matter;

how much you loved, how

gently you lived, and how gracefully

you let go of things

not meant for you."

--- Buddhist saying

image by Donna Watson

image by Donna Watson

The hands know, 

the materials too, 

quite apart from your imaginings,

less or more than your intentions - 

following the pattern that emerges,

the story as it tells.  -- Jane Whitely

image by Donna Watson

image by Donna Watson

You see, I want a lot.

Perhaps I want everything:

the darkness that comes with every infinite fall

and the shivering blaze of every step up.

-- Rainer Maria Rilke

image by Donna Watson, fabrics, fibers, waiting for inspiration

recent purchases from Habu - website found here  

 

There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening 

That is translated through you into action,

And because there is only one of you in all time,

This expression is unique.

--- Martha Graham  

 

    

   

     

   

The Way

Donna Watson, The Ancient Way, 20"x20"

Creativity is an integral part of being human, as basic as walking, talking and thinking.  The creative process is intuitive.  It points us towards our essential nature.  Zen teachings can help us understand and cultivate our creativity.

Donna Watson, page from handmade book, MEMORY LANDSCAPE

Zen is about experience and activity and not about words and ideas that try to describe it.  THE TAO OF PAINTING, a book written around 500 C.E. is a classic canon on the art of painting as a spiritual path.  In the action of no-action (wu-wei) the mind is silenced and the work is allowed to express itself.  

Donna Watson, image of tools and journal pages

Zen masters began to use art as a way of teaching enlightenment.  Zen arts, creativity and realized spirituality are seen as inseparable.  Zen aesthetic developed to express eternal truths about the nature of reality and our place in the universe.

Donna Watson image, sunrise, view from my bedroom window

These Zen arts do not exist for the purpose of creating a work of art, but rather a method for opening the creative process.  They comprise means of training the mind and living our lives.  These arts were called ways because they were disciplines or paths to the artist's understanding of him or herself.  The suffix "do" means way.

Donna Watson, image of ways to create new art works from flea market finds

Chado, the way of tea.  The ritual of the tea ceremony (simplicity, purity) influences all of Japan's fine arts.  Creating harmony with opposites is an important aspect.  Inside the tea room, it is important to display a piece of calligraphy in harmony with the spirit of the tea and an ikebana (flower arrangement) in a pure and simple style.

image from Museum of Fine Arts Boston website

image via Flickr, fujijardins, Thierry Del Socorro

image via Flickr, fujijardins, Thierry Del Socorro

Shodo, the way of the brush.  Calligraphy is a striving for inner perfection, yet it is always incomplete, open like the enso (circle) of infinity.  Shodo is a discipline that takes many years to master.  It is a way to enlightenment.

  calligraphy tools

an ancient pond/ a frog jumps in/ the splash of water..  Matsuo Basho, 1686

Ginkaku-ji temple, Kyoto, Japan, by David M. Bryne

Kado, the way of the flower.  Ikebana or flower arranging is another art form that incorporates harmony and balance.

Toshiro Kawase

The emphasis is on the creative process--- not on technical skill.  The creative process is unique to each individual.  It is unique to YOU.  The creative process helps each of us discover our own way of expression.

image via Flickr, lightsongs, Kerry Singh

This process of discovery is the endless spring of creativity.  It is already present in each of us, waiting to be uncovered.  Ultimately, the experience of the arts helps us to see into one's own heart and mind and to bring to life that which is realized.