Packing Up, leaving no trace....

Packing up time.

I took down the calligraphies and cast them temporarily into the stream…. But they will be packed separately.

Rolling and packing the stream was quite a job! I took it down to Inverness PO, but it was too large for them to weigh. I was told I would have to drive to Fairfax some 30 miles away. But I thought I’d try Point Reyes PO and they dealt with it most efficiently, thank goodness….. So it’s on its way.

The space later this afternoon. As I found it. Empty. Ready for the next artist to start their residency in February.

It's done!

Yesterday I completed my work in the studio. It’s done!

The calligraphies are like standing forms, benevolent beings, watching over me and the work. Or so it has felt working here in this silent space these past two weeks..

The roll (6 or 7 meters long) is full of marks — impulses, eddies, bubbles, sea swirls, splashes all tumbling over each other. A watercourse which has picked up everything along its way, this whole journey. An outpouring, My marks — my best response to and celebration of Gordon Onslow Ford’s “Live-Line-Beings”, forms from the “Inner Worlds” which he says express “the state of good fortune in being alive.”

Water and Natural laws

“Li 理　is the asymmetrical, non-repetitive, and unregimented order which we find in the patterns of moving water, the forms of trees and clouds, of frost crystals on the window, or the scattering of pebbles on beach sand.

“Tao is the flowing course of nature and the universe; // is its principle of order which….. we can best translate as “organic pattern”; and water is its eloquent metaphor. “

The Watercourse Way”, Alan Watts

Zen Brushwork -- the act of creation

Brushwork and Creation

In his book Zen Brushwork – Focussing the mind through calligraphy and painting — Terayama Tanchu talks about zen brushwork in terms of an act of creation. The white paper, prior to drawing, is complete, empty/full. As soon as the brush touches the surface of the paper, this wholeness is split into two polarities, black and white. He expresses this in the traditional Chinese way – prior to the manifestation/creation of heaven and earth is the state of “konton kaiki” (Japanese term) a state of chaos.

In The Watercourse Way Alan Watts says that Lao Tzu uses the Chinese term “hun” 混 (kon in Japanese) meaning obscure, chaotic, turgid…..“but I do not think that this can mean chaos in the sense of mess and disorder such as we see when things formerly organized are broken up. It has rather the sense of hsiian 玄　(gen in Japanese), of that which is deep, dark, and mysterious prior to any distinction between order and disorder—that is, before any classification and naming of the features of the world.”

Sea swirls

Today sea swirls and spray entered the scroll. I stand in it imagining those glassy layers full of swirling shapes racing towards me, pulling back away from me……

Woman on a Green Island!

This sliver of land is moving northwards. One day it will break free and be an island.

“I live on a peninsular that is slowly moving up the coast of California at about two inches per year.”….”IN reality it is an island that has been above the Pacific Ocean much longer than the gently rolling coast to which it is now attached.” “Gordon Onslow Ford — A Man on a Green Island”. Fariba Bogzaran.

Today, the green of the mountain is more so, after experiencing yesterday the deep blue shining expanse of the sea on the other side. The embrace of the trees is more so after the limitless view.

The mist rolled in this morning, curling through the trees, embracing everything. At first bright soft white backlit by the sun, then as it covered even the sun, grey and uniform, removing the edges, closing the gaps…..eventually obliterating form, overtaking space.. And then gently and quietly enveloping me. Silence and a sudden chill.

The Sea!

Behind the ridge ahead, on this green island, the shining sea. The Pacific.

Where Bolinas Bay meets the Pacific.

Standing in the shallows, the glassy layers decorated with foam swirls raced towards me, enveloped me up to my knees, passed me, and then pulled back from under me - sucking the sand from under my feet. As if pulling me towards itself at a great speed. Almost impossible to keep standing upright. A squeal of joy! Exhilarating and slightly scary. That was at Dillons Bay where Tomales Bay meets the Pacific. As calm as a millpond compared with what it would normally be like apparently. What would it have been like in the storms?

The the waves at North Beach above Point Reyes. The Pacific. Nothing until you get to Japan….. There was no standing in the shallows there — however “calm”. A steep shelf. Beware the undertow!

We were too early to see pods of whales on their journeys. But I could see where they would pass. An undulating rhythm of diving, surfacing, diving….

Connections and embodiment

Sina took photos of what I have been doing in the space — the calligraphies and the long scroll with (water) marks.

Distinct but connected. I’m not concerned with being a great artist or master calligrapher. I’m a practitioner. (I said to my Zen teacher this morning, I am not going to be a great artist or a master calligrapher — I’m a practitioner and she laughed and said “How do you know you’re not going to be a great artist or calligrapher? In Zen there are no limitations. And when there are, they are not a problem. Wise words!)

So this is what I have created in the space. I have a few more days to see if anything more needs to be “said”.

Yesterday's way is not the same as today's

Yesterday’s way through the watercourse was pouring on puddles of ink tinted water which could be followed from the start to approaching the end. But today, there was a different response. Drops of pure black ink. Spots like stepping stones. Clear way markers in places that were vague.

Space is alive and full of power

In “Art and Physics”, Leonard Shlain compares traditional Eastern ideas of space, which are conveyed in landscape paintings…. The empty space is “an invisible, generative living tissue….”, which is “alive and procreative…” As opposed to the classical Western idea that space is an inert nothingness, against which things are arranged and events happen.

GOF in an interview by Fariba Bogzaran said that although he had only just started to know about David Bohm, he had “sympathy with his “implicate order”. “The implicate order, I am sure, has a lot in common with what I call the Inner Worlds — but that is work for someone else…. He mentions, I believe, that space is alive and full of power. I absolutely agree.” “When you pay full attention to what is happening, something surprising turns up, which is a confirmation about the creative power of the mind. There is only one creative force in the universe, and the painter’s mind has to open to it. there is just one force, and that is what makes the Earth turn round. Each person’s contribution is relatively small, but it doesn’t matter the size, because a small contribution has enormous effect and goes everywhere. Painting seen by one person, as in the morphogenic fields of Sheldrake, eventually become available to everyone — their resonance is in the air.” From “The Quest of the Inner-Worlds”.

My watercourse is a small contribution. This place, the studio, the white roll of paper is generative space and the marks emerge. An expression of the life force, creation, giving form to the unborn.

The Watercourse Way

Everything coming together now. Energy returning, appetite returning. Sun and clear light and stunning cloud formations this morning — like paintings or drawings. Feathery fans expanding into the deep blue sky.

This morning adding to my “watercourse way” —the title of a book on the Tao by Alan Watts. Starting pouring small pools of water, just tinged with ink, on it from the beginning. Water making its own shape in contrast to my made brush marks. Floating. These shapes being an alternative way of moving through and along the channel. So many different ways — brush marks, pencil marks and now these pools….

I used to find canal journeys fascinating in that they cut an alternative way through the landscape, contrary to the routes of roads and railway lines.

And travel is at a different speed.

Went back to the studio in the afternoon and did brushwork. The space seemed fuller, time slowed. The drawing came easily. Mu ichi ji. Not one thing. Nothing, Empty.

Bubbles breaking up

Went early to the studio this morning to make fresh brush marks. Here it is from the other end. Just the very end marks…..Streams of bubbles breaking up, disentangling, letting go. Fragments. Like chains of molecules breaking their bonds. Quick. Enough.

In the afternoon I returned, but my attention was now on brushwork. Space became felt, time slowed down. One more “bu ji jin” and then two more starting with an enso.

And then a walk down the mountain to check the road and to make sure I know how to navigate the 3 or 4 steep (1 in 4?) bends when I drive down. The road was wider than I had remembered and I was reassured. Followed my nose down and down till I came to the sea. The narrow strip of water — Tomales Bay — overlies the San Andreas Fault.

Maybe a relief to see an expanse of water….. but climbing back up the mountain road, very aware of the light in the trees.

Connections

There is a simple connection between the marks of Gordon Onslow Ford, my marks and Zen brushwork.  They all "express the state of good fortune of being alive” as GOF put it.  There is an underlying joy that bubbles through.  That was the attractor for me coming here. It is rare for art these days to celebrate this joy — a kind of unreasonable joy in a way, knowing our own points of pain, those of others and of the world out there.  But still there at base when everything else drops away. A serious joy, which is at the same time light and buoyant and playful.

And all this is connected with and informed by Zen meditation and koan practice.

Chaos/coherence

How much energy can I put in without it becoming too much….. Only by inserting marks at different levels, letting some float to the surface and others sink below. Flying/swimming at different altitudes/depths.

I do not want to block the flow, but at the same time I hold it in stillness. And on some levels — the pencil marks, these are like primitive life forms and they are going in all directions including the opposite direction.

As ever, water forms, life forms and some intelligent communications.

I can hear the creek in the canyon holding the whole mountain together.

What determines the movement here impacts on the movement over here.

Clusters of energy. Attraction. Repulsion.

Ended up by adding darker marks and bringing them down stream, counterflow.

Unreasonable joy

On the way down to the studio this morning, the trees were on fire with light.

I drew 3 “bu ji jin” — non-doing person — ie non-efforting person. And they came so easily after the bold Hi bi Arata. Easier and more familiar, and more energy in me.

Quite a host!

And knew that I wanted to float the faintest of marks to my long scroll. Water, and hardly any ink. So they don’t interfere with the other marks, they just float either above or below them. Like you’re looking down into water and seeing eddies,,,,

An outpouring, a rush of bubbles, a stream. eddies, unceasing, unleashed, jostling, vibrating, getting temporarily stuck and then being released, buoyancy, joy.

Different levels building up and looking down through the levels.

And the words “unreasonable joy” came into mind. Joy, in the face of all pain - personal, of loved ones, of the fractured societies, of the world. Bubbling up like a spring.

Walked in the afternoon to the fork in the trail which leads up to the ridge and Mount Vision. Too much for today, but a glorious afternoon, clear air and an achingly blue sky…..

Flow

A forward motion of shapes gaining momentum. Bubbles rising. Scattering. Building up from behind when needed to aid the flow. Pencil marks mostly made standing up for freer movement. I don’t know — but this is what my response is!

Pencil marks mostly made standing up for freedom of movement.

A visit by Jeremy Morgan. Inspirations, conversation and lunch — and an achingly gorgeous afternoon.

Energy field?

Tired today so left going to the studio to the afternoon. The space was warm and full of light. I went out on the deck overlooking the ridge, and instead of doing chi gong and yokiho I laid down on the bench and went to sleep. Straight out.

I drew another Hi Bi Arata and put it on the wall - 4 now. Knowing that they take some energy — although I probably tend to put in too much — but they beam energy back! Especially with the cumulative effect.

And then did the next stage of my marks…. they are definitely going somewhere — in procession. Probably they will pick up others on the way!

And then I drew my pencil marks on yesterday’s marks which were now dry. What are they — yesterday’s crackled light reflections, short lines and shapes filling the white space, an energy field, information soup.

The ink marks are made standing up. They are so watery that there is no friction, little expense of energy. To draw with pencil I lie on my tummy on cushions. Conserving energy.

Marks on the move

This morning, strange light patterns alighted the marks I had made in my sketchbook last night. A shadow from the cup and light patterns like crackled glass reflected within the shadow. I couldn’t work it out, and just traced the patterns onto the page.

It occurred to me that I didn’t need to have the energy to fill the long roll of paper with bold dancing marks, I could make small marks and set them off in the direction of the window at the end of the studio. Set them off like little chicks and see how far they could go!

So I went to the studio, and made one Hi bi Arata. A little stronger, more uplift in the flight in the final kanji. A different person each time!

And then set my small marks off on their journey!

Interesting while still wet — volume and reflected light.

The return of the sun

The cycle has been broken, and the storms have passed on their way. The return of the sun, and the air is shining. Everything is shining.

Tuesday 18 Jan — The first day back in the studio. My intention to draw one or two calligraphies a day, hang them on the wall and let them charge the space with their energy. Hi bi Arata — Every Day New — the ones I love to start the year with. Lack of practice, and lack of energy resulted in rather shallow and weak calligraphies — it was difficult to manage the brush, to move it over the paper. It’s not the easiest of brushes to work with. There is little give/yield, but it is very strong and dynamic. If you have the strength — or know how to let go enough — it will flow. I didn’t have either, but I showed up! I made two and that was the work in the studio for the day.

In the afternoon, tea in the sun outside Gordon Onslow Ford’s house with Fariba, Sina and Nancy.

A bright day.

"In praise of shadows......."

Reminded of “In Praise of Shadows” by Tanizaki Junichiro.

The beauty of gleam, glint rather than shine, Darkness receding into deeper darkness,

There are no overhead unifying lights here in the living room and the bedroom, Only lamps which cast pools of light — some gold and some silver — and create shadow

The flames in the wood burning stove leap ever higher but when the air is cut off, they lose their direction, their colour They swirl, curl, lick, encircle the logs, and flow like water. Curl in my belly.

I do not yet have the energy. The positive dancing bright energy, sometimes too much, unintegrated. I will let the colourless flames curl in my belly.

Turn down the dial.

I awake from an afternoon dream in a burst of anger and grief.

The sun now the other side of the ridge, and the light begins to slip away, to leak away, making way for the dark to emerge. Hardly perceptible to the eye, but known to the body which knows its time to sense rather than see. Colours lose their hold and slide into monochrome.

A last effort of the sun behind the ridge and a transitory gleam on the leaves.

I made marks — clear now that they are colourless flames. Dancing in the light of the moon. A solitary stand-ing stone and a star.

These thoughts come on the first day of sun after the break of the storm cycle! I am still in transition.