A Special Guest Zen of Creativity Chapter 12

[Jinyo]

Hello again,

My friend, Allan Graham had just finished painting this when he died almost a year ago. We feel like it was his last word to the world, meaning at so many levels. It is 7' x 9', oil on canvas.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6295[/ATTACH]

Another friend, Susan Myo On Linnell, very often uses words in her paintings. She is a Buddhist monk and teacher, so her words are haiku, koans or related to her practice. She also makes books another art form that celebrates the written word.

https://www.susanmyoonlinnell.org/other

bows.
Anne

~lahst~

Thanks for the link - has given me some ideas!

Gassho

Jinyo

[Jishin]

A Special Guest Zen of Creativity Chapter 12

Here is some recovery art. Had this for a while and it has held up amazingly well.

The sun burns brightly when recovery lies at the center of it. AA stands for Alcoholics Anonymous. The triangle has the 3 important concepts of Unity, Recovery and Service of AA.

Below it is a scroll with 3 key concepts from the Serenity Prayer that is often repeated in AA meetings (God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and Wisdom to know the difference).



Gassho, Jishin, __/stlah\__

[Jinyo]

Amazing and moving Jishin,

thanks for sharing,



Jinyo

[Jishin]

Thank you Jinyo!

Gassho, Jishin, __/stlah\__

[Kokuu]

Part of the project will be to create a book of images/text. The text will be the words of a 'dream poem' I've connected in my mind to my father-in-law who I've never met (he was born in 1886 and is long deceased). I'll post images of the work/installation as it progresses. The work is entitled 'The Conjuror'

I love the sounds of your project, Jinyo, and hope to see a lot more about it!

Your haiku are inspiring - perhaps we could all choose one of your haiku that personally touches us and create an image to go with the words?

You are very kind, but maybe we could choose a poem by Basho to work with?


Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-

[Onka]

Dang! I've just discovered this bunch of threads. I gotst me some catchin' up yo do.
Gassho
Onka
st

[Meitou]

Again a wonderful response to this chapter, so much to admire and inspire here, I'm loving everything I see and read. Please everyone keep going, every one of you has made a meaningful contribution and I think we have enough material coming in to continue this chapter into another week. I do like the idea of choosing a Basho poem to work with ( but I also liked the idea of working with Kokuu's haiku!) perhaps those of us who want to could think about taking that forward next week?
In the meantime, here are some more pages from sketchbooks, unplanned and done before this prompt was written, where words and drawings connected - I couldn't really say what came first in any of these, they just seemed to appear spontaneously, this happens a lot in my sketchbooks now, since I let go of the idea of sketchbook as showpiece, stopped worrying about wasting paper and materials, gave myself permission to play, and allowed anything to happen.

Admire the courage of plants
ch 12 drawing flower.jpg

In Shamata
ch 12 drawing.jpg

The orchid knows
ch 12 drawing orchid knows.jpg

Gassho
Meitou
sattodaylah

I just noticed those three titles work together !

[Kotei]

I am enjoying these... Thank you all!

I was thinking about how to integrate my gardening here, while the weather is stormy and heavily raining for weeks...ohh, and still winter....
As we're in private here, I'll show what I did with Ink and a brush. Not sure about the Kanji.
Some first thoughts for the presentation of my trees. There'll be an exhibition in early fall, where some of my trees (normally year round in the garden) will be shown.

The Big within the Small
大小

Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

[Cooperix]

Kotei,

Such serenity invoked with that tableau of trees and brush strokes. Thank you for inviting us in.

In case you are not aware of the free online magazine, Emergence (Meitou's recommendation!), the current issue is on trees. Here is the link to a remarkable piece about a bonsai tree that survived Hiroshima. https://emergencemagazine.org/story/atomic-tree/

bows,
Anne

~lahst~

[Cooperix]

And Meitou,

As you well know I love your drawings. These are especially wonderful combining simple thoughts with spare beautiful drawings. Please more!

bows,
Anne

~lahst~

[Kotei]

In case you are not aware of the free online magazine, Emergence (Meitou's recommendation!)

Thank you Anne and Meitou,
I knew about the pine, but somehow missed the magazine.

Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

[Meitou]

Oh Kotei, these are so beautiful in every way possible ; the paintings, calligraphy, how they are presented, and then the exquisite trees and how they are displayed. Thank you so much for showing us these - I wonder if you could just tell me something about the small plantings next to the bonsai, are they seedlings and what are they planted in?
Uplifting, thank you.
And thank you Anne for your kind words, you give me so much confidence.
Gassho
Meitou
Sattoday lah

[Kotei]

Thank you

I wonder if you could just tell me something about the small plantings next to the bonsai, are they seedlings and what are they planted in?

This way of displaying trees derived from the traditional Japanese 'Tokonoma', an indoor alcove made in a certain way for displaying Ikebana, a scroll, some pottery or other.
Here, from the alcove itself, there is only the floor and limiting bamboo sticks on the floor (the former walls) left.

There are usually three elements 'in' it. The tree with its pot and a stand (bonsai is about the tree WITH the pot), a hanging scroll and an accent (a small accent plant or a suiseki stone, etc.).
The elements should not repeat themselves i.e. no tree planted on a stone and a picture of mount fuji or a suiseki together;
no blooming tree and booming cherries on the scroll or a blooming accent plant together, etc.

The tree should represent the season, nature is in.
Ideally the accent plant should be a very little further in development than the actual season, for promising, what is going to come.
I like when the tree is a Yamadori (found, not hand-raised from seed, specimen), the accent being a plant from the actual finding spot.
However, an accent that tells lush, full growth together with a tree that tells gnarly fight for life, don't fit well.

'Shitakusa' (下草) and 'Kusamono' (草物) are the terms to google for ;-).
They're not only used as tree accents, but stand for themselves, too.
Bamboo, grass, moss, fern, blooming flowers, fruiting berries, fungi, seedlings, everything is possible if it is the right accent and season representation. I like using weeds ;-)
Planted in pottery, roof tiles, deadwood, slate or other stone plates (earth covered with moss), etc.. I have some in old rusty drum-brake drums ;-).
schnee.jpg black.jpg pot.jpg
(The empty pots are 'cheap' ceramic, not 'artist' works. Just to show the wire fastened mesh that covers the bottom hole).
The substrate is often less penetrable than that of the trees, because the small (sometimes thimble sized pots) don't hold much water.

fern.jpg

Traditionally there is a gender aspect regarding the usage of glazed (female) or unglazed (male) pottery.
Coniferous (needles) trees are seen as male and are used together with unglazed pottery and deciduous (falling leaves) trees or even flowering trees are seen as female and used together with glazed, sometimes quite colourful ceramic.

The accent plant on the tree-pictures is Ophiopogon japonicus 'Minor', evergreen and with little white to violet bell-shaped blossoms in mid-summer.
Normally, you would not combine those evergreen, needle look with coniferous plants, as I did,
but I am longing for the green meadows to reappear in spring and found it looking a bit like green grass.
With the orange glazed ceramic, I found the 'female' aspect accenting the 'male' conifers quite nicely (Have I just written that?).
The ceramic is standing on a piece of slate in the pictures.

Thanks for asking,
Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

[Jinyo]

Thank you KoTei,
I love the presentation of the pots and scroll.

The past few days we have dodged the rain in the UK and begun
work in the garden. It has been a long winter! Have planted lots of pots
but really want to try a season and accent plant now. Had not come across this
before so thanks for info.

Gassho

Jinyo

Sat today

[Jakuden]

Just wanted to bow deeply for this lovely thread, though not artistically inclined myself, I very much enjoy this forum and learn a lot from you all.

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday


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