Today I've been carving one of the blocks for the Lumbini (birthplace of Buddha) print. Unlike the other two prints in this triptych(Bethlehem and Mecca), I'm not doing this one as a reduction print, meaning that for this one I'll be carving separate blocks for each color.
Today's block literally involved blood, sweat and tears. Blood because I cut myself with a gouge. Not a very serious cut, but enough to get some blood on the block before I realized that I needed a bandaid. As for the sweat, it's finally spring in New England and although the weather is really quite lovely and temperate, I'm at a point in life where, um... let's say my own body thermostat runs a little hot and cold. When it's hot it's REALLY hot, so I was sweating under my desk lamp.
As for the tears, those fell onto the block while I was listening to a podcast from Speaking of Faith -- an interview with Mariane Pearl speaking about how her practice of Buddhism helped her when her husband, journalist Daniel Pearl, was murdered in Pakistan shortly after 9/11. It's a powerful interview with a woman who sounds like a remarkable person.
7 comments:
Do you find that when you look back at illustrations or print you remember exactly what you were listening to when you worked on it? It's like that with me. I also prefer speech to music when I'm working as it stops me getting caught up in my own day to day thoughts and I can just create.
Admiring your third print in this triptich coming together.
Celia
oh! I was so touched when I read your words about the wife of Daniel Pearl and how she was helped.....I would like to listen to it, but I have to be in the right mood, and have some strengh to be able to listen to something like that...so I will wait untill I´ve finished my duties for to night.....beautiful work you´re doing....
Celia, yes! I do often remember what I was listening to when I look back at a piece I've done. I'm sort of experimenting with that as I work on this triptych, wondering if somehow I can "infuse" the work with the things I listen to as I work. Magical thinking, I know, but I'm enjoying learning about these places through podcasts and listening to music (Buddhist chants, Islamic poetry, Eastern Orthodox liturgies) that I wouldn't ordinarily listen to.
Anita, did you listen to that interview?
I don't know why but I am always so attracted to the texture in wood and lino blocks purely abstractly. I'm looking forward to seeing this work as a finished entity. Marilyn
You have a fabulous printmaking blog! Do you mind if I blogroll you?
I particularly enjoyed reading about the research you have done in preparation for this print.
Hi Annie!
Yes I did listen to the interview with Marianne Pearl..it was interesting and I rememberede all the writings in the newspapers and a lot of tv on the subject too in those days....it was so terrible and I remember the feelings I had then when I heard about the video about his dead...
I´m not that much familiar with buddisme, though I for quite some years ago learned about meditation and yoga, but never went into deeper thoughts about buddisme...
But I aggree with Marianne pearl, that an ethic way of thinking, where she mentions that spirit is what makes us human and that she think a mental resist is a way to win...and that is not the same as foregiveness as she thinks....
But I get more curious about buddisme......
It must be so,so difficult to deal with what she had to, that it´s hard to imagine....
and besides all these thoughts about the interview...another think I noticed, was her way of using the language...so funny and strange way of pronouncing....
Hi Marilyn. Yes sometimes the block seems like a work in itself. Eraethil, thanks for the visit. Don't mind at all if you add me to your blogroll. Anita, I'm glad you liked the podcast with Mariane Pearl. I too was struck by her distinction between resistance and forgiveness. As for her accent, it sounded to me like the accent of someone who speaks French as their primary language. They said that Pearl is of Afro-Cuban and Dutch ancestry and was raised in Paris, France.
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