tea in starlight

I painted this one, too, by low lamplight and candle light at night. I like seeing the light in the darkness.



teapot no. 45 (445) of my 5th Set of 100 Teapots
Watercolor and black fountain pen ink on hanshi.

Light emerges

© Nicole Raisin Stern
Watercolor and black fountain pen ink on hanshi.

This is teapot no. 44 (444) in my 5th set of 100 Teapots
View Set 5 here

☆☼☽

Light emerges
as it always does

Just trust
and wait

The Light is always here
even when all seems dark

~ Nicole Raisin Stern

This tree shared its light with me
today, as I stood under it, quietly, like a tree.

Joyous

I-I-I-I-I-I-I (spoken sing-song like the Angel in Tony Kushner's Angels in America)

am

drinking

a

cup

of

oolong tea

from a

teapot

and the wind

is blowing

-- or --

Is it the

leaves that are blowing?

A Zen master said

it is our minds that are moving...


Next to the teapot is a beautiful orange-y ripe peach with red markings -- but not for long -- 'cuz I'm going to devour this juicy wonder. I will take a photo of it first, Just in case I want to paint it. I read once that Mme. Matisse (Henri's wife) would become angry with Henri for bringing home beautiful fruits and vegetables when she thought they were poor. Instead of eating them, he'd arrange a still-life. By the time Henri finished the painting, most of the fruits had become soft and old. I like that story, first, because of the Spirit to create and the emanations of Light and Color that surged through him and the fruit, second, because Henri knew he was rich beyond measure to be so inSpired, enThused, and inFused with Light and Color, and thirdly, because I like to imagine Henri in his suit painting (he always painted wearing a suit jacket and trousers) in a stream of light at a wooden table where a bowl of fruit glowed for him.

happy April!

Using the dark to make light

The lights went out tonight from a rain storm. I lit some votive candles then went for my art box. By candlelight glow, I did some snipping, measuring, and gluing, and a lantern came out. The hinges are made of a manila folder (the same material I used for the covers of my cha book) and the lantern sides are pieces of leftover washi--Japanese paper--with marigold tissue paper that I cut into shapes. There's a turtle, a star, a sun, and a crescent moon.