Jack Johnson - Buddha

I'm almost moved into my new place, but it will be a while before I am moved all the way in and settled. I'd say sometime in February I'll be fully moved. It's been nice to take my time moving for a change. I've moved 6 times in the last three years.

It's a beautiful day here in Colorado, nice and cool but sunny.

I journal daily and have been drawing a lot. I checked out the following books from the library today: DANCING IN ODESSA by Ilya Kaminsky and THE DEMON AND THE ANGEL by Edward Hirsch.

"Art is born from struggle and touches an anonymous center. Art is inexplicable and has a dream-power that radiates from the night mind. It unleashes something ancient, dark, and mysterious into the world. It conducts a fresh light."-- Hirsch

Very excited about the Ilya Kaminsky book too.

Early on Hirsch gets into Lorca's duende and Emerson's view that art is the path of the creator to his work, and a most lovely passage I can't find anymore about finding that above and within are one and the same. How unbelievably lovely he put a very old thought.

"The duende (or the demon) and the angel are vital spirits of creative imagination. They are anamalous figures. They come only when something enormous is at risk, when the self is imperiled and pushes against its limits, when death is possible. They embody an irrational splendor."-- Hirsch

I think for some time I've had a lot at risk and now, only now are things settling down to a point where I can write. Tonight I will revise according to a second reviewer's suggestions. It's amazing how much moving can cut into things. In any case, I also checked out a number of books on figure drawing and the drawing of heads and one book on perspective. We'll see if they help. My drawings just are a bit stiff and this is bothersome, but I am a beginner. I'd love to paint but I just can't afford that. I can on the other hand afford sketch pads and pencils. I'd like to expand to charcoal and conte crayon too, but it will be a while. Maybe not.