Tacking in Circles

"... a sailboat can not travel directly into the wind but employs sailing technique known as "tacking," to zigzag across a headwind."

Okay, so maybe I've been thinking too much about our little sail boats, still waiting for a good breeze on a warm day to see if we can remember how to tack around our reclaimed lake. But there's some tacking going on in the studio that's giving me cause to ponder my path. I'm certainly not under the same full sail as when I started this bokusho project. Now, it appears it's time to tack a bit in order to get back on course.

Talking in circles again, but with good reason. Circles are entering into the scheme of things as I try to pull together a composed body of work for the February show. First it was the labyrinths I'd become enamored with prior to and during the April trip to France. I didn't see any but my travel mate picked up a post card of one that was in a Mirapoix church she had toured (I'd read too much of the Cathar/Catholic miseries to be comfortable in these old churches so had busied myself elsewhere.) But the postcard was beautiful and I taped it up on my studio wall. Man... I could really get into that idea as a series. We'll see...

Then, tacking into an entirely different wind, there's the Enso, the Zen symbol for "Circle of Life" (or variations of same.) This, of course, comes from my fascination with all things Asian, and especially the brushwork. I've such respect for the centuries of artists represented, yet I have no desire to study it... only to borrow and absorb in such a way that I can create my own brush rhythms. It ain't so easy to make that happen... at least to my satisfaction.

I've collected folders of both circle types, and study the variations and meanings attached. A few attempts have been incorporated into some unfinished works... it's coming along...