Going in circles
The other day I drove down a road I hadn’t been on in some time, but I used to take almost daily on the way home from work, 10 years ago. I was listening to music* I used to dance to almost daily 30 years ago, and recently heard again at a friend’s backyard gathering. I’m writing this now, in the home I’ve created with my partner, who I almost but did not meet in ‘93-94 when we were working less than a block from each other in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. I’m going in circles/spirals, and I love it.
Why am I sharing this with you? Seeing patterns and finding the meaning in them is what abstract art is about for me. The making process is not just satisfying, it’s nourishing in a bones-deep sort of way. I was probably 10 years old the first time I felt it, and it’s seen me through years of circle-traveling.
A friend recently told me that my current mixed-media work feels like looking at a tarot or other divination card. This was thrilling, because that is actually how I was feeling about it but hadn’t yet put into words. This particular series is still being shaped, but today I am seeing this in the patterns of color & texture that are emerging:
we dive, not as bodies into clear water, but as hands into the dirt/hearts beat, hard/the coming storm feels dangerous and necessary/there’s a golden light and delight/the hard parts might just keep on being that way
What does this mean to me? I reconnect to my heart. I am reminded that delight is not just ok, it’s part of the necessary work of being alive in this time and place. I get ok, for today at least, with not being able to see clearly which way is up or out.
*The music is by Concrete Blond, and it totally holds up, and you should listen to it.
