Clouds Low is an ink drawing that depicts people meditating in nature. The left figure sits among boulders. She consists of multiple layers: the white outline, an off-white area inside the outline and an inner space with tightly drawn ink lines. When I meditate, I feel an outer level, symbolized by the outline, that is …
When I meditate, I feel as though I drift through various mental levels. Closest to ordinary experience, I observe thoughts that arise and fall away. When I’m more relaxed, I perceive colors moving in interior space and I delight in watching them with my inner eye. In a deeper calm, I feel a tingly electric …
I love cephalopods. One million years ago, Octopi and Homo sapiens shared an ancestor which bequeathed both species with similar eyes. The cephalopods are the most intelligent of the invertebrates. The largest eyeball on Earth, one very much like ours with a round pupil, belongs to the Giant Squid. When I gaze at a cephalopod, …
With this ink drawing, I celebrate our precious pollinating insect world. In the middle of the composition, the butterfly drifts aloft amidst an energetic environment created by hundreds of small ink lines. As it flutters, I imagine the insect senses smells, temperature changes, airborne particles, visual indicators, sound vibrations, tastes, wind sensations, magnetic field resonances, …
In Desert Mirage, two shapes are positioned near each other. I create a highly textured surface with many tiny ink lines to maximize a sense of energy in the shimmering air around them, similar to the visual movement inherent in a mirage in an arid land. The top form seems stationary, while the object below …
In my studio, while working on my ink drawings series, Land and Water Meditations, I spontaneously drew a large tree that I titled Planted. With hundreds of ink lines, I created the vitality and energy of thousands of leaves in this enormous tree that extended to the top and side borders of the picture. The …
The other day, I spontaneously drew a meditating figure sitting in a stream. Looking at it later, I wondered why I’d placed a contemplating person in the water. Suddenly, it made sense to me because Buddha-consciousness constantly adjusted to the ever-changing flow of life. No matter what circumstances might drift along and engulf a person, …
In my ink drawings about meditation, I attempt to depict what I feel when I meditate. In Pattern/Map Meditation, I illustrate both my inner and outer realities. The lighter ochre and lavender ink swirls in the outermost areas depict the gentle dynamics I perceive in my larger environment, vibrant with a hint of order in …
I grew up in Seattle with omnipresent rain and abundant trees. In early spring, pink blossoms covered fruit trees. The east side of my family’s one-acre plot featured a cherry orchard, with a few plum, pear and apple trees growing wild in the back. Blossoms heralded the advent of caterpillar season. We used no pesticides, …
In my current virtual exhibition on ink drawings with the Walter Wickiser Gallery in New York which closes May 1st, Teepee Meditation illustrates several essential aspects of meditation that are most important to me. A triangular teepee-like shape surrounds the central meditating figure, portraying the feeling I have in deep meditation of being closely held …
