The Months go by…

“The months go by, things change slowly, time

becomes an unknown entity,

yet I continue, my practice, my life, my art.”

Welcome, I’m glad you’re here.

It came up in conversation, that time has become such a heightened experience during this pandemic. Seeming to stand still, yet the seasons remind us that time is clearly moving on. Few things symbolize permanence like mountains. And few things represent change like the seasons. Beyond the cycle of the seasons, the daily weather can make the same mountain vista appear dramatically different even within the same day or a few hours. 

This mirrors our human experience, where our daily lives are affected by the emotional and social weather that surrounds us, creating the atmosphere of our perception. From moment to moment, and day to day, time and circumstances seem to be at a standstill. Or, maybe our vision is obscured by day to day emotional weather.

Until in a moment, we notice that the daily weather has come and gone repeatedly, and suddenly it’s a different season. Both in our lives and in the natural world. And now, poetically the landscape has become a metaphor for our experience of life.

Last winter, as part of my ongoing landscape work, I began a series of linoleum block prints. These prints give me a voice to explore this paradox of time. Using the repetitive nature of block printing as a framework I explore a world of variations. Through these variations, I form a connection between landscape and emotion. The mountains, water, and sky are constant partners in this equation, (similar to time standing still). The ever-changing light, atmosphere, of the seasons, create an endless variety of colors, shapes, and details, (reminding us of time’s constant movement). 

“I missed summer and now leaves are falling”

Physically,  the printing plate, like the mountains, is a constant in its design. The ink colors and textures chosen for the prints are variables similar to the changing weather and seasons they represent. The mountains I am working from are constant in their structure, yet their appearance is continually in a state of seasonal change.

Similarly, I explore the interplay between the plate, ink, and background color, I find each variation evokes its own unique mood. It is this constant variation that intrigues me and informs my work as I study this dialogue between land, air, water, and light. 

There are fat juicy greens of late spring, to flat dull greens of August. Then warm fall reds, ochres. The brown, silver, muted greens of the conifers with the white of winter. And the crazy burst of spring that starts with crimson tipped branches. Throw in the fog of the early am, sometimes completely obscuring your view until it turns translucent, slowly revealing the detail at hand as it disappears with the morning sun. All reflected by the water under the ever-changing sky. Or, a clear full moon night, where the moon and clouds dance and levitate across the water

I am choosing to savor this opportunity to pursue a long term study of a particular motif. It is a great privilege and a very curious problem to solve. Who knows where it can lead, with so many unknowns? The seasonal cycles create so many colors in the sky, mountains, and water.

Experiencing the landscape creates a potentially different mood at any time. Here I'm interested in how a landscape image can create an emotional response. I experience this emotional response myself, and I want to explore and share that experience with others. I hope you’ll take a a few moments out of your day and enjoy these images. Indulge yourself in their variety.

As we continue to move on, stay safe and healthy, and, look after those around you. If you can, take time to get out and see the air and light of the day, and the landscape around you. I find it helps to bring us back to our center.

As always, thank you for joining me here.

Jamie