I have focused on using the tools and techniques I have learned in the last year. My son gave me a woodblock of a Tibetan prayer flag-the windhorse- which I have used, by printing it on canvas. I painted on top of the printed prayer with a landscape. It seemed to convey both the visual and the verbal. I toyed with writing something in English but the sense that there is a verbal context, almost prayer like, to a landscape was better shared in a language we do not know. The emphasis, then, to me, is the combination of what is spoken and what is seen. I felt these were very successful in conveying a deep respect for both.
I have been interested in the calligraphy of a landscape for many years. When I designed and cut stencils from my drawings, I realized form in itself signified character. It is dancelike. The shape of a plant speaks to the viewer. A landscape is an unspoken language. The combination of the two in these paintings captured that sense for me.
