Strange Spring

 

If I was going to come back to WP at all it had to be today.
Today is one year exactly since I last posted on Art Rat Cafe.
Symbolism / Ritual / The closure of circles…

I took a hiatus from WP and began posting on Instagram because I wanted less. I needed a brain break and Instagram is a graphic novel. a gallery, a picture book. It’s clean and simple with a limited space for writing. It’s like texting whereas WP is like writing a letter. I like the way Instagram is structured. I can visit other artists easily and look at their work all together like strolling around their studio.

I’m not putting down WP at all,at all… just explaining why I went away and why I like where I went and why I will be staying there as well as come back here. Instagram is my Yin, Word Press my Yang. For at least the last six months WP has been on my mind. To stay or to go? It seems a trivial question now but I’ve been with WP almost ten years off and on and I have great affection for all my Word Press friends. I enjoyed blogging but began to question what more I had to offer.

I was teetering on the brink as they say, to return or not to return as the twelve month circle closed?  My virtual friend, Nadine, gave me a gentle nudge and over the brink I went, the Tarot Fool stepping out into unknown space, and here I am again.

I’d forgotten how much white space they give you here. It reminds me of facing a large new painting canvas. I always find it terrifying. Lost in the tundra! The first thing I do is eliminate the white surface using five inch brushes and rollers. Looks like I’m doing the same thing here but with words. And that’s all I’m saying tonight. I don’t know where this may take me, I surrender to serendipity. I do know however that I will be sharing many of my Instagram posts, art and poetry old and new, and maybe I will even open up art rat cafe CAFE again.

Tonight and almost 24/7 my head is full of Covid 19 as is yours I’m sure. When it began it was a welcome relief from having Trump bouncing around in my brain every day. Now I don’t want either, ever again. But they are both real and present dangers in our world and I’m learning, slowly, how to open and empty and be. To do no harm and take no shit…

Some of my recent pandemic art relieves the text above:

Hope – detail of random layers on worktable.

Every Day Feels Like Sunday Morning – Acrylic and mixed media. 24×36 in. 61×91 cm.

Sweet Delirium – Acrylic on panel. 12×24 in. 30×61 cm.

“Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light.”

                                                                                                    Madeline L’Engle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tree Warrior (renovation art 2)

He has nature at his back,

skeleton of winter,

spine of a ragged warrior.

 

He has shield and lance,

the correct expression,

the strength of will,

the iron of purpose.

 

But can he protect us

from the passing of the trees?

 

As goes the forest

so go we all.

 

Art and poem by Clinock.

Sculpture: Tree Warrior by Clinock.  Height 12” x Width 4” x Depth 3” (varies). Fired and stained clay / chopstick / yarn / tree branch / beads / rusted tin.

Affirmation

Defenseless under the night

Our world in a stupor lies;

Yet, dotted everywhere,

Ironic points of light

Flash out wherever the Just

Exchange their messages:

May I, composed like them

Of Eros and of dust,

Beleaguered by the same

Negation and despair,

Show an affirming flame.

If you can, watch this video full screen, it is so very magical.

 

painting by clinock / poem: From Another Time by W. H. Auden.

Sagacious Serendipity – hope

A working studio becomes layered with a deep and wondrous treasure trove of raw material. When I become a camera the possibilities of framing chance encounters with surreal and inspiring compositions are limitless. This series shares my captures of random juxtapositions that caught my eye. Some I may use as source ideas for painting, but all are complete in themselves as examples of sagacious serendipity.

The writing and sketches are taken from my sketchbook.

Click on images for more detail.

‘The 100’ #93 – Tarot Reading

Afflicted.

Lost in the cloud of unknowing.

Words fogged or missing.

Hidden meanings, unsolved riddles,

outcome uncertain.

The threat of swords summons fear

and a bird’s skull darkens

the clear stars of choice.

Numbers reveal blindness

to the heart’s armor.

Flowing is blocked from the inside,

the river is damned.

Love’s simplicity is tired and tangled

and ghosts veil the light.

But here is the Empress,

birthing The Lovers,

in rivers of beauty.

And here, the Fool,

stepping out into space,

falling in grace once again

with handfuls of hope

and a trembling trust

in the reds of desire

and the blues of a longing

for coming home.

Yielding affects the desired transmutation.

Quiet loving acceptance is the way.

Understanding follows peace.

 

mixed media painting and poem by clinock.

‘The 100′ series was initiated by my 100th Post in April 2012. As text and images are the essence of my blog my intention is to present 100 pieces of text based art from historical and contemporary artists and from my own hand. To view the series to date click on ‘The 100’ in my Category Menu.

‘The 100’ #81 – Struck by the Stick of Understanding

struck by the stick of understanding

he emerges from a dream of light

into an even brighter realm with

brittle edges and elusive shade,

blinding in its clarity,

merciless in its glare.

 

his dream was all soft shadows

compared to this

unbearable,

hard,

shining,

in which he cannot

breathe or think or see,

and everything believed before

becomes illusion.

 

turning from this sharp veracity,

retreating back to dappled sleep

he drifts through sensual clouds,

trailing sanity but home again,

beyond his understanding,

to smoky skies of love.

 

art and poem by clinock.

art: acrylic and mixed media (based on a sketch for ‘Dual’). Click on image for best view.

‘The 100′ series was initiated by my 100th Post in April 2012. As text and images are the essence of my blog my intention is to present 100 pieces of textual art from historical and contemporary artists and from my own hand. To view the series to date click on ‘The 100’ in my Category Menu.