The Edges of Things

untitled collage Leslie Avon Miller

I like the edges of things

the way two elements come together

and are changed by the experience.

A third energy is born

 

untitled collage Leslie Avon Miller

 

To explain this in words

is to diminish the happening.

And yet I endeavor

to explain.

 

This morning I watched the sunlight

create a multitude of abstract paintings on my walls.

A strong dash of a line.

A pattern with rhythm.

 

 

untitled collage Leslie Avon Miller

 

In our solitude we are one person.

In our interactions, at the edges,

we experience a portal

and become, even fleetingly, changed.

 

My art avoids the boxes of words,

and moves to another dimension.

A dash of a line.

A pattern with rhythm.

 

 

untitled collage, Leslie Avon Miller

This is my poetry.

This is the essence of my content.

At the edges I am changed.

 

 

 

 



haiku for the new year

new year's haiku 1
Leslie Avon Miller

At the change of the year I require light, and space and room to breathe. I need time for mental clearing away and sorting to allow room to allow freshness in my life. January is such a personal month. I withdraw, cocoon and cleanse, preparing for what is to come.

new year's haiku 2
Leslie Avon Miller

I find myself stacking antique Japanese glass floats on an equally aged silver tray. They capture and reflect the pale winter light. Their aura is simple. They reflect my mood, symbols of vintage beauty brought forward in news ways to this time and this place.

new year's haiku 3
Leslie Avon Miller

The rich sparseness of Haiku appeals to me. I find myself sorting, choosing, tearing, shaping and arranging small space to please my need for minimalism and clarity.

new year's haiku 4
Leslie Avon Miller

 



threading a needle

on new year's day

the spool unwinds

 

Jane Reichhold

 

 

new year's haiku 5
Leslie Avon Miller

 

                                The first page of my new journal reads:

 

365 new days

 

and the second page

 

Let your life be a painting

Let your life be a poem

 

Osho

 

 

new year's haiku 6
Leslie Avon Miller

 

 

 

Best of new year wishes to you.









Out with Lanterns

Lanterns, collage on paper 6x6 , Leslie Avon Miller

Perhaps being lost, one should get loster.

~Saul Bellow

Loster in the studio; that’s where I am. And it’s no so bad. I have no idea what I am doing and I don’t know where I am going. I only know I am continuing in a state of curiosity. I try many things and make decisions about what to keep and what to discard. 

I create papers with color and textures which will later be turned into some shapes for collage. I make marks and I follow new pathways.

I have been through most the drawers and other places I have stored papers, collage, and paintings on paper looking at my own artistic history. I am grateful that I have kept some of my earlier works. It seems to me that the ones I have kept are sensitive and perhaps not so easily understood. But to me, they have a beautiful mystery, a certain aesthetic. And I find there is a thread from them to what I am doing now. 

                               

          And I am out with lanterns, looking for myself. 

                                                      ~Emily Dickinson

 

 

My sensibility shows up like my fairy godmother even if I am unaware. Examples can be found by following the link to my tumblr blog in the side bar.

Some fellow named Sir Herbert Reed said that art is pattern informed by sensibility.

As I commence this next phase of my life, likely the final third, I have decided to do so with increased awareness and gratitude in general and with specific appreciation for my own sense of discernment. I feel a tenderness. I am opening. I am opening and turning towards the light. 

Late Ripeness



Not soon, as late as the approach

 of my ninetieth year,

 I felt a door opening in me

 and I entered

 the clarity of early morning.





One after another my former

 lives were departing,

 like ships, together with

 their sorrow.





And the countries, cities, gardens,

 the bays of seas

 assigned to my brush came closer,

 ready now to be described better

 than they were before.



~ Czeslaw Milosz,

Sanctuary

Leslie Avon Miller, Collage

The god of dirt
came up to me many times and said
so many wise and delectable things.

 I lay
on the grass listening
to his dog voice,
crow voice,
frog voice; now,
he said, and now,

and never once mentioned forever

~ Mary Oliver ~

Leslie Avon Miller, Collage

Leslie Avon Miller, Collage

I have been seeking refuge, a sanctuary and retreat. 

I find my path by making small art.  

Art is my refuge.

Leslie Avon Miller, Collage

Do not let Sunday be taken from you.

If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan.

~Albert Schweitzer

  

Paper, textures, torn edges, small patterns, marks and my thoughts.

These make up the collages 

which are my refuge, my Sunday.

My soul is not an orphan. 

High Tide In the Studio

In the flow of life there are daily tides, and waves. 

There are storms followed 

afterwards with calm seas again.

I am only human and I find myself bemoaning the storm, 

fighting the waves and wishing for perfect conditions....

which are not happening.

And this too, is forgiven. I forgive myself this as I write. 

This being in the moment business has its challenges....

I find it less challenging when the moments are full, 

ripe and rich for the picking. 

My moments now often contain obligations, chores, 

and multiple voices calling for attention. 

One of those voices is my own true self and though I hear her, 

I attend to the others. 

I say to myself 

"Wait. Wait a little bit. Soon, soon." 

My voice and I have been through this before. 

I know about these times, and that rather than writhe against it, 

I may as well put on my raincoat and keep walking.

Right now the tide is high, the winds are strong 

and the beach I walk is narrow. 

I have the same 24 hours as everyone does, 

but it seems not enough.

So I make tiny art. 

Small art. Palm sized art. 

And I console myself with this during stormy late winter high tides.  

  

And in those moments I am most myself, 

in love with being and making.

If you would like one of these tags to arrive in a handmade envelope 

to your mail box, please leave a comment. 

I shall include your name in a draw. 

I’ll announce the winners next weekend. 

So stay in touch so you can send me your snail mail address 

if your name is one of the ones drawn.

Meanwhile I will probably make more small art, 

until time opens up and I start painting again. 

Soon, soon.

Scraps of Time and Paper

Priceless Gifts

An empty day without events.
And that is why
it grew immense
as space. And suddenly
happiness of being
entered me.

I heard
in my heartbeat
the birth of time
and each instant of life
one after the other
came rushing in
like priceless gifts.

- Anna Swir

Gathering scraps, I pieced together many minuscule bits, arranging, adding, gluing, and tearing apart.

The tiny bits blended with one another, beginning a new whole; a thing, a composition, a space in time born of smallness and insignificant scraps of paper. A picture of my time. 

Time is the music of our being.  

It is to us what water is to fish.

~ Jessica Julian

In this world, there are two times.

There is mechanical time and there is body time. 

The first is as rigid and metallic as a 

massive pendulum of iron that swings 

back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. 

The second squirms and wriggles like a bluefish in a bay. 

The first is unyielding, predetermined. 

The second makes up its mind as it goes along.

~ Alan Lightman

 one moment, one chance

 

She had always felt

that the essence of human experience

lay not primarily in the peak experiences, 

the wedding days and triumphs 

which stood out in the memory like dates

circled in red on old calendars, 

but, rather, in the unself-conscious 

flow of little things--the weekend afternoon

with each member of the family

engaged in his or her own pursuit,

their crossings and connections casual,

dialogues imminently forgettable,

but the sum of such hours creating a synergy

which was important and eternal.

~ Dan Simmons

Happy New Year my friends. 

May 2012 bring us all 

ample creative bluefish times.

Art Is My Teacher

My work is loving the world.

~Mary Oliver

Paying some attention to what my art has been teaching me, I have noted a few thoughts. Like all lists, and all awareness, it is in flux, incomplete and evolving. I'll share my observations with you here.


Go with what is happening. Art will teach me what it needs.

It is good to ask "I wonder what will happen if I..."

Swooning is allowed when seeing another artist's work, but feel my feet firmly planted on my own art path.

No matter how much has been mastered, remain a student of everything and of something - photography, on-line presence, or new technology. The world will always evolve and I must also.

We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.

~Lao Tzu

When in a growth phase, protect incubating ideas. They may be shy. Retreat from scrutiny, like a snake that is shedding its skin. Emerge fresh and ready to shine.

Attend to nature, the original muse.

I learn, yet again, to see, really see.

Share with other artists. They get it. Encourage others as I am encouraged.

Experience gratitude.

The answer is almost always "keep working."

Happy New Year!

What is your art teaching you?

The first image: Untitled, 12 inches by 12 inches, watermedia on birch panel. By Leslie Avon Miller

The second image: Untitled, 30 inches by 22 inches, watermedia and collage on watercolor paper. By Leslie Avon Miller

Readers are adding:

• patience
• resilience
• curiosity
• exploration
• discovery
• renewal
• the value of looking within
• to be more brave
• go to work!
• follow any leads
• always allow time to experiment
• the beginning
• letting go
• dare
• now it's good
• look carefully
• be brave
• have an open mind
• look closely
• be excited
• be open
• share

And more words from you:

• • nourish the spirit
  • be kind to myself
    
  • Play and explore
  • Celebrate life
  • Be present
  • Push
  • Feel
  • See the light within and in the world
  • Keep pushing the envelope
  • You can’t win if you don’t play
  • Allow
  • Accept
  • Sustain
  • Stillness/action/aloneness
  • Share
  • Acceptance
  • Reflection
  • Perseverance
  • Connection

What a rich and fabulous list. I'll keep adding to the list as you share your thoughts. Thank you all!

Old Papers, Insects with Wings, and Stencils.

Collectors are happy people ~ Johann Goethe

Old papers, insects with wings, and stencils.

What is a collector? It’s an innate trait. We start as children, collecting leaves, or stamps or stones and, as we get older, teens collect friends, CDs and, as an adult it can be anything. ~Edgar Paulik

Vintage photography paraphernalia.

Post office stamps, beyond their original usefulness.

Collecting seems to bring out that primitive instinct for the hunt in some of its devotees, who stalk their prey with skill. ~Alicia Faxon

Did I mention leaves with spots and dots?

Bulldog clips and every kind of vintage office item.

I have yet to meet a collector who feels bad about his collection. Collection is also about the story – the story behind how someone found it and purchased it. ~Edgar Paulik

Of course, keys.

More, I have so much more…to be continued from time to time.

What do you collect?

I have a new coaching web site here. The small collage above is by Leslie Avon Miller. Thanks for stopping by!