Connections

Dreams, cold wax and oil paints, by Donna Watson

"Every thing is raw material.  Everything is relevant.  Everything is usable.  Everything feeds into my  creativity.  But without proper preparation, I cannot see it, retain it, and use it."

--- Twyla Tharp

 image arranged by Donna Watson

"Do stuff.  Be clenched, curious.  Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead.  Pay attention.  It's all about paying attention.  Attention if vitality.  It connects you with others.  It makes you eager.  Stay eager."

--- Susan Sontag

image arranged by Donna Watson

"I do believe in the everyday sort of magic --- the inexplicable connectedness we sometimes experience with places, people, works of art and the like;  the eerie appropriateness of moments of synchronicity; the whispered voice, the hidden presence, when we think we're alone."

--- Charles de Lint

 image arranged by Donna Watson

"The beauty of a fragment is that it is still supports the hope of brilliant completeness."

 image arranged by Donna Watson

"Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them at triggers for experience."

--- Brian Eno

 image arranged by Donna Watson

"If we look carefully we can find a thread that links it all together--- links our dreams and the stories on the news, links the trivial, the mundane, the sensational.  There is a thread that is our collective destiny, and it is inside each of us as well as in the world around."

--- Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee 

 image arranged by Donna Watson

It doesn't have to be 

the blue iris, it could be 

weeds in a vacant lot, or a few

small stones; just

pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don't try

to make them elaborate, this isn't 

a contest but a doorway

into thanks, and a silence in in which

another voice may speak.

--- Mary Oliver

A New Year and a Workshop

Collage by Donna Watson

UP COMING WORKSHOP:  Wabi Sabi and the Spirit of Collage

Location:  Matzke Fine Art Gallery and Sculpture Park, Camano Island WA

When:  February 7-8, 2015,  9-4pm

Cost:  $290 for the 2 days, includes lunch

Wabi Sabi is a Japanese aesthetic.  This Japanese aesthetic is a beauty of things imperfect, incomplete and impermanent... rustic, earthy, simple, textured, and organic.  We will use hand painted washi or Japanese papers to create wabi sabi collages.  On the first day I will demonstrate how to hand paint these papers and everyone will create their papers.  On the second day, artists will then learn simple compositions and design elements based on Zen tenets like balance and harmony.  Everyone will then use their own hand painted papers to create whatever type of collages they want.  Matzke Fine Art Gallery is a spacious open space surrounded by a beautiful sculpture park.  Camano Island has beautiful beaches to explore.

For more information on how to register, location, lodging, etc.  contact Karla Matzke:  at 360-387-2759 or email her at:  matzke@camano.net.  Also, check out her website:  www.matzkefineart.com 

"may my mind come alive today

to the invisible geography

that invites me to new frontiers, 

to break the dead shell of yesterdays,

to risk being disturbed and changed."

John O-Donohue, from 'a morning offering'

hand painted papers by Donna Watson

So a new year is here.  What is it about the concept of a "new year"?  Some of us set new goals, some of us set the same goals we had a year ago, some of us look back at the year that has passed and rejoice in the accomplishments, the new friends, the new learnings, the goals met.  Some of us look back and think "Where did the year go?"  How fast did it pass?  What did I really accomplish?  What will I do now?  What makes Dec. 31st different from Jan. 1st?

"Our purpose in life isn't to arrive at a destination where we find inspiration, just as the purpose of dancing isn't to end up at a particular spot on the floor.  The purpose of dancing -- and of life --

is to enjoy every moment and every step, regardless of where we are when the music ends."

-- Wayne Dyer

hand painted papers by Donna Watson

"Don't think about what can happen in a month.  Don't think about what can happen in a year.  Just focus on the 24 hours in front of you and do what you can to get closer to where you want to be."

--- Eric Thomas

hand painted papers by Donna Watson

"It is in the thousands of days of trying, failing, sitting, thinking, resisting, dreaming, raveling, unraveling that we are at our most engaged, alert and alive."

-- Dani Shapiro

hand painted papers by Donna Watson

"The timelessness in you is aware of life's timelessness and knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream."

-- Kahlil Gibran

"When you put your hand in the flowing stream, you touch the last that has gone before and the first of what is still to come."

-- Leonardo da Vinci

And here is my favorite Quote that I think I use every January of my new year:

"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing your world.  You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself.  Make New Mistakes.  Make mistakes nobody's ever made before.  Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect,  whatever it is:  art, life, or love, or work or family life.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, DO IT.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever."

--- Neil Gaimen