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moonflower

Canis Major as depicted in Urania's Mirror, a ...
Canis Major as depicted in Urania’s Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c.1825. Next to it are Lepus and Columba (partly cut off). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Your fist like this”, she said, “covers about 10 degrees of the night sky.”  She moved my hand slowly over the dark water and spoke in her methodical way, no use to interrupt her. “20 degrees south-east of the belt of Orion, you see, there is the brightest star in the night sky, right in the constellation of Canis Major.” She waited for a moment for me to catch up with her. Our entwined hands travelled over the night sky and stopped. And there it was, deep underneath us, the brightest star of the night sky, as far as I could see. “Do you see this star?” she asked. “It is called Sirius. It is 23 times more luminous than our sun, twice the mass and the diameter of the sun. It is only 8.5 light years away.” The way she said “only 8.5 light years”, it sounded as if she was talking about a Sunday picnic destination. It sounded like: We could take the bike. It’s only 8.5 light years away. Before I had a chance to point that out to her, however, she had started talking again, and almost without warning, though in answer of my question, switched from her facts, from degrees between two points of light in the celestial sphere, luminosity and brightness, and mass of celestial objects, to a startling revelation.

 

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8.5 light years

8.5 light years

She moved my hand slowly over the dark water and spoke in her methodical way, no use to interrupt her. “20 degrees south-east of the belt of Orion, you see, there is the brightest star in the night sky, right in the constellation of Canis Major.” She waited for a moment for me to catch up with her. Our entwined hands travelled over the night sky and stopped. And there it was, deep underneath us, the brightest star of the night sky, as far as I could see. “Do you see this star?” she asked. “It is called Sirius. It is 23 times more luminous than our sun, twice the mass and the diameter of the sun. It is only 8.5 light years away.” The way she said “only 8.5 light years”, it sounded as if she was talking about a Sunday picnic destination.

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artist statement – freedom is attainable

artist statement

compulsion to paint. is there a name for that? from that name was my compulsion born? and if my creative activity is to be described as compulsive behavior, do i wish to be free from it? as much as i desire freedom from life.

i am awake. through my waking mind images pass. i take a brush, a pen, and through brush and pen these images record themselves. i might be highly organized, efficient, sober, inquisitive etc. in my rational mind, but these images are what they choose to be.

there is no agenda, no program, don’t ask me for one. just a life between pillar and post.

what i want to see in these images (and you might see something else, they are as much yours as they are mine): freedom, mindfulness, compassion. a furious gentleness towards life. i see old stories in new clothes. there are stones, there are shadows. there is a smooth path under a tree. and i can relate all this and then return to what i know. because what i paint and write is what i confess not to know. and yet it is not ignorance i serve but the luminous mystery of a letter, a line, a word, a constellation, 20 degrees south-east of the belt of Orion, 23 times more luminous, twice the mass and the diameter of “our” sun. what i know is that if i could indeed throw an object hard enough, it would escape gravitational attraction, that there is a black hole in the galaxy M87, and that freedom is attainable through our words and acts.