August | 2020 | Art Everyday

I’ve been thinking about the meaning of the word joy and how to find it and embrace it in this off-kilter time, the year 2020.

I have come upon scenes of joy in so many places all around the world. I explored my archives and found images of people and places that caught my attention for their expression of joy. Often, something in a place that made me smile. People, young and old, near and far, anytime, anywhere doing something that makes them happy. Smiles. Joy!

Here is what I found.

Eat Dessert First

CU Boulder

Feld Days Spring Creek E.S.

Vietnam

Japan

Chile

Buenos Aires, Arg.

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

A Must Have, NYC

Music In The Subway, NYC

Boston

Redstone, CO

Music at the Met, NYC

An Unexpected Pleasure, NYC

Ljubljana

So Many To Choose, Ljubljana

Beaver Creek, Co

Cinque Terre, Italy

What a Ride, Cinque Terre, Italy

Travel and photography are experiences that bring me joy. Another, which occupies more of my time, especially during these months of isolation, is working in my studio. It is the joy of discovery working with familiar or unfamiliar materials. The what-ifs, maybes and perhaps. Keep this, change that, see what happens. The road to discovery can be straight-ahead or long and winding. Minutes, hours, days, or weeks. No matter. I sink down into the work at hand and emerge at some point thinking “finished” or “unfinished.” That’s it. Next.

My Studio

Outside my studio is the natural beauty of my farm in North Texas. It exerts its special brand of calmness on me and brings me huge amounts of joy. A special part is the Tally-Ho Trail, named by my granddaughter when she was young. It meanders through the woods, gently rising and falling, twisting and turning, following the creek. It’s not Colorado, but it’s our little piece of heaven in Texas. I’ll be on it as soon as it cools off. Summer does seem to last forever here.

Tally Ho Trail

Joy can be a small thing or a big thing. If we open our hearts to the possibility of giving and receiving JOY who knows what might happen?

Life Is Art

I am continuing to construct collages on suminagashi marbled paper. The concept of time, during the Covid19 pandemic, is strange and weird. I’ve used the word “time” in the titles of these new collages to encourage thinking about various aspects of the collage.

In poetry there are what I think of as “breaths” between words or phrases. The relationships of shapes, lines, colors and spaces in between function in much the same way in the collage. Is it a stretch to say those relationships may act as metaphors which provoke thoughts (memories?) and feelings?

Here is #1366 “Time Will Tell.”

What are your reactions?

#1366 Time Will Tell collage on suminagashi marbled paper 22×30 2020

#1366 Detail

Compare it to #1367 “Time-less.”

How are the relationships of shapes, colors and lines different? What is the “flow” or rhythm? How does the movement relate to the marbling?

#1367 Time-less collage on suminagashi marbled paper 22×30 2020

Here is #1368 “Another Time.”

#1368 Another Time collage on suminagashi marbled paper 22×30 2020

#1368 Detail

This is #1369 “Time For…”

#1369 Time For… collage on suminagashi marbled paper 22×30 2020

The collages were constructed on 22” x 30’” paper. Not small, but not huge. Try to picture that size and think about how near or far you would have to be to take it all in and see the relationships I’m talking about.

This is my wordless poetry.

Monthly Archives: August 2020

JOY

Since I Don’t Write Poetry