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

The time has arrived

During the holidays, this past November and December, my mantra was "I will do that in January". I will update my website, I will get caught up in the blog world, I will send out information about my upcoming workshop in April, I will start a new body of work.. so many goals, desires, wishes, hopes... all were put off until January. I have always viewed January as my new beginning-- blank canvas, blank calendar -- the beginning of my new goals. Well, it is now January. The first thing I did was take a look around at some of my favorite things and favorite quotes, looking for inspiration.

Old Japanese books, with worn torn covers

some more old worn Japanese books

DO OR DO NOT. THERE IS NO 'TRY'. - Master Yoda

old typeset wooden letters

Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall. -- Ray Bradbury

My collection of beach stones

Alas! must it ever be so? Do we stand in our own light, wherever we go, And fight our own shadows forever? -- Lord Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton

Collection of bird eggs, bird skulls, bones

Be patient towards all that is unresolved in you and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms, like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Live the questions now. --
Rainer Maria Rilke

Old Japanese wooden boxes

The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that our aim is too low and we reach it. -- Michelangelo

Old gears, watch faces, rusty metal

You have to be available to the invisible voices that are swirling around you.-- George C. Wolf

Old maps, old scrolls, old papers waiting for inspiration.

I may not know who I am, but I know where I'm from. -- Wallace Stegner

After my favorite tea latte with chocolate sprinkles, and leftover sugar cookies on my favorite plate, I will get to work. I wish all my blog friends a successful, creative new year.

How to Read a Stone

Title: ZEN, acrylic, Japanese scroll, rice papers, metal

"Another fact of prime importance to remember is that, in order to comprehend the beauty of a Japanese garden, it is necessary to understand---or at least to learn to understand---the beauty of stones. Not of stones quarried by the hand of man, but of stones shaped by nature only. Until you can feel, and keenly feel, that stones have character, that stones have tones and values, the whole artistic meaning of a Japanese garden cannot be revealed to you."
--------------------Lafcadio Hearn, Writings from Japan



"When stones are moved and rearranged, they speak to other worlds."
-------------- Ellen Meloy, The Anthology of Turquoise

My aesthetics---what I like---extends beyond my studio. I don't think artists can separate themselves from their surroundings. In my search for my identity in my work, I look inside my closet. I look at my home decor, the books I read, and outside at my gardens. Like the elements in my paintings and assemblages, the stones, plants, and Buddha outside are planned and arranged until they are pleasing to my eye. The smooth stones may be stacked or flat, but they are an integral part of my gardens. A rock garden next to the pond creates harmony. Balance. Peace. Tranquility. Meditation.
Can you hear the waterfall splashing against the rocks above the koi? Your outer world reflects your inner world. My studio is where I do my work, but my gardens become my sanctuary and my inspiration. Where do you get your inspiration?