Another New Year....

"Red Enso" collage by Donna Watson

Announcement of 2 March workshops:

      March 5-6:  WABI SABI AND THE SPIRIT OF COLLAGE:  Portland OR at the

      Sheraton Airport Hotel.  For more information on workshop, location, supply list,

      cost, and registration go to www.artandsoulretreat.com  

      March 19-20:  ZEN MEMORY BOOK (will make a folded accordion book on any theme

       such as memories, family, garden, pets, travel etc).  Matzke Fine Art Gallery, Camano 

       Island, WA.  Cost will include lunch.  For more information on location, cost, workshop,

       and registration contact Karla Matzke, 360-387-2759, matzke@camano.net, website:

       www.matzkefineart.com 

Folded book on Zen Gardens by Donna Watson

A NEW YEAR... Time to take stock of the past year and move forward... begin a new chapter...

be open to new possibilities... start over... learn from the past year and move on...

self portrait, journal page, by Donna Watson

Every January, I write down my goals for the new year.  I look at my list from last year and see what goals I met, and what goals I need to extend or continue to work on.  I am always a little disappointed in myself when I see what I accomplished and what I did not finish... and the list of what I did not finish always seems to be the longer list.

photo image by Donna Watson

And every year I go through the same goal setting list... making a new list... often with the same goals written down that were on last year's list.  And every year I am disappointed in myself.  So, this year,

I decided NOT to write another list of goals.

hand made scrolls by Donna Watson

Instead, I decided to make a different sort of list.  Not of goals to be met... or not met.  But to go inside myself more... more introspective and not set myself up for another year of disappointment when I do not meet all my goals....

photo image by Donna Watson

So here is my first one:  TO BECOME MORE MINDFUL.   To appreciate the small things around me, and to be more aware of moments -- live in the present moments.

photo image by Donna Watson

Here is another one:  GRACE...  to respond with more grace when I am disappointed or when a situation or person confronts me with a challenge.

And to be more POSITIVE... I am often accused of seeing "the glass half empty".  

Want the change.  Be inspired by the flame

Where everything shines as it disappears.

The artist, when sketching, loves nothing so much

as the curve of the body as it turns away.

What locks itself in sameness has congealed,

Is it safer to be gray and numb?

What turns hard becomes rigid

and it easily shattered.

Pour yourself like a fountain.

Flow into the knowledge that what you are seeking

finishes often at the start, and with ending, begins.

..... Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus, Part Two, XII

photo image of rabbit temple in Kyoto Japan, by Donna Watson

The One Taste of Truth

 MEMOIR,  Donna Watson,  cold wax, oil paints, collage, scroll

NOTE:  4 day workshop:  PERSONAL EXPRESSION:  A DESIGN APPROACH.  SEPT. 14-17

INSTRUCTOR:  Donna Watson.  At Matzke Fine Art Gallery, on beautiful Camano Island, WA.

For more information contact Karla Matzke at:  matzke@camano.net OR 360-387-2759.

(All mediums and all styles of painting are welcome as this workshop delves into each unique, creative participant as they find their way along their artistic journey.)

The tea ceremony incorporates the mindfulness, quiet and simplicity required for Zen study and meditation.   Most important in both is the awareness that each and every moment in unique, and is to be valued and savored.  

Over the centuries that both Zen and Tea evolved, literature developed in the forms of poems, phrases, fragments of Zen stories, and concepts.

THE BOOK OF TEA,  collage by Donna Watson

Displayed on hanging scrolls in the alcove (tokonoma)  of temples, homes or tea rooms, these phrases or fragments, or quotes provided contemplation that would encourage the right feeling for the drinking of tea or meditation.

TOKONOMA or small alcove, image source:  bonsaisur.mejorforo.net  

There are hundreds of these phrases or ichigyomomo - in Japanese - written on these scrolls.

They allow free and easy wandering among the ideas and emotions that the words on the scrolls suggest.  When one is drinking tea, one can read the phrases or poems, and contemplate the meanings of the words on the scroll.

Small scrolls created by Donna Watson

One of the most famous tea masters, Sen no Rikyu, called the scroll the most important implement of Tea.

Seth Apter,  wonderful blog here.

It is quiet and tranquil, empty and at rest.

It stands on its own, and cannot be altered;

Manifests itself in all things, and is never idle.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, about the ungraspable

OLD SCROLL,  by Donna Watson,  cold wax, oil paints, collage, scroll

The body is like a bodhi tree;

The mind is like a standing mirror.

Always try to wipe it clean;

Do not let it gather dust.

Shen-hsiu

ANCIENT SCROLL - detail,  by Donna Watson, acrylic, collage, stone

MU:  "emptiness" is no doubt the best-known character in Zen literature and calligraphy and found on many scrolls.  When one empties one mind while drinking tea or meditating, one's mind opens up to new ideas, and possibilities which can lead to creativity.

The Unveiling... And the winner is...

History by Donna Watson,  oil and cold wax, collage and Japanese string

Every seed grows in darkness and silence.

Story by Donna Watson, oil and cold wax, collage and scroll

For the first 6 months of 2013, I faced a serious creative block in my studio.  I wanted some sort of change, but did not know why or what.  I did not know how to move forward, nor what to experiment with or what to try that would result in some sort of change that I would like.

Mapping by Donna Watson, oil and cold wax, collage bundle

I finally decided to try a new medium.  For the past 6 monte or so, I have been experimenting with cold wax and oil paints.  It took me awhile to get used to the slower drying time.  With a lot of experimenting and layering... I ended up with many layers which I scratched, rubbed, pressed, brayered... and I have finally ended with some new finished pieces.

Old Scroll by Donna Watson, oil and cold wax, old collage papers and old scroll

I also decided to change and add to my collage.  Everyone has a story to tell.  Stories become our compass by which we navigate through our memories and discover our core being.  We use stories to build our sanctuaries.  These stories (memories) become our history.

Riverbed by Donna Watson, oil and cold wax, paper bundle, rock, string

Because our memories are intertwined with language, I like to explore the importance of words, phrases, sentences... snatches of memory lingering in and out of consciousness.  My collage became

layers of old letters, book pages, and old maps wrapped into bundles.  Scrolls, which can hide stories and histories, have also been included.  These remains of the past represent our memories in the present.

Every human life has its seeds, whether building a sand castle, cooking, painting a canvas, walking through the woods.

And now, for the drawing for my book:  THE BEAUTY OF NOTHINGNESS.  Thank you to all those who left comments at my blog and those who sent email comments.  There were 65 names.

I wrote down all the names, cut them into pieces that were folded and put into a bowl... and the one name I drew out is.....  Barry!

Thank you again, and if any of you are still interested in my book you can go to Blurb.com

here and take a look at the whole book. 

Histories Past and Present

A scroll is a roll of parchment or paper which has been written, drawn or painted upon for the purpose of transmitting information or using as a decoration. Scrolls were the first form of record keeping. They were also used in recording history and literature before the bound book.

Come said the muse,
Sing me a song no poet has yet chanted;
Sing me the universal. Walt Whitman

Photo by Werner Bischof, from JAPAN photography by Werner Bischof 1951-52.

Without memories, there is nothing to account for our lives. With memories, we develop a language, drawing from universal concepts.

"Leaning against the wall were rows of ancient, tattered Chinese screens. I peeked between torn corners to see layers of paper, some yellowed with age but covered with exquisite calligraphy. A new body of work had begun." Roberta Marks, A Place Between

I found the above image at Seth Apter's tumblr page which you can find here. It is titled Four Play. He has beautiful images there as well as at his wonderful blog, which you can find here.

I draw these letters
as the day draws its images
and blows over them
and does not return. -- Octavio Paz

Four ancient scrolls from China.

A detail of the seals and chops used in the above scrolls.

A scroll made of bamboo
Man is but a part of the fabric of life -- dependent on the whole fabric for his very existence.
--- Gary Snyder

The above is titled LETTER FROM THE OLD WORLD by Lissa Hunter. Her book is LISSA HUNTER: Histories Real and Imagined. She also has a wonderful website which you can find here.

"Any process , whether it is washing dishes or making art, is begun to fulfill a function, is formed by appropriate techniques and materials, and if affected by cultural and historical influences." --Lissa Hunter