Two Attempts…

Two Attempts:

1) To Understand the Culmination of the Moon, and
2) To Get Through this Cold Dark Winter

This is more a single piece of 14 parts than a series.  Shown installed in my studio in the ideal configuration, with the Winter Solstice drawing at top and the Spring Equinox drawing at bottom.

The night sky or the darkness of the short winter day is the “shodo” here and lets in more page, or light, as the drawings move from Winter Solstice to Spring Equinox.  Over this “backdrop” of the dark, I’ve tried to lay out the “Culmination” of the Moon: its highest point on that night.  The Culmination is the highest point the moon reaches as it moves in the sky overnight.  It reaches higher or lower depending on the season, but I could not find a clear explanation anywhere… And I still don’t really understand it.  The “second attempt” is getting me through the darkness of the winter… Often a project or creative endeaver is really about getting us through the day, week, or year as much as it is creating our next masterpiece.but it helped with the winter…

14 drawings, 6×8″ Ink, graphite and palladium leaf on handmade paper with gold leaf inclusions. 2018