ABeautifulMomentOfMystry

On the road last Friday early a.m.
on my way to the Dharma School
I drove into this magical moment
I had to stop the car and record it

"To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders:

TheSamePoetInTheSameForest

The day after
The same forest
the same dusk time
a different magic
Just as potent

"honour the playfulness of spirit that lets everyone win"

ThePoetInTheForest

While out on my daily dusk walks
(Magic light time)
I come across the most beautiful moments
The above image illustrates one of them

“The things we see, but don’t marvel at anymore”

HarmoniesOfPowerAndLove

sally jenny nel
are madam

A new a cappella group delighted an appreciative audience
at Dooley's pub in Hepburn Sunday Arvo

They angel-sang three old time gospel songs in an entirely new way.
creative, inventive are words that describe their singing
but if there was one word that best expressed their creative approach it would be

Glorious

Keep an eye on these women, support them, they are going a long way
in fact, all the way to heaven

"The function of the artist, is to provide what life does not"

DharmaFlower

I have been off the (blog) air for a while
but here I am again

This morning I volunteered, as I do every Friday,
at the new Dharma school

A parcel had arrived filled with hand knitted winter socks
for use during school times
The parcel came from India
where the socks were knitted for the school students
we spend the first hour writing a thank you letter
and I made a photograph of the students
wearing their new warm socks

'everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me'

MasterPieces

Ploughed Fields

Late afternoon. Sun low in the sky. Driving from Daylesford to Ballarat via Dean. The light is magical. The grass glows with an intense viridian light. The fields look as if lit up from below.

Into one of the green hills a brown field is being drawn by a farmer with a stubby red pencil. His tractor. It labours up and down and slowly fills in the space with a wonderful deep cinnamon brown colour. The lines, left behind by the plough, follow the contours and undulations of the land and make for a fascinating texture and a beautiful strong drawing.

I watch this poetry in slow motion, and am reminded of the Zen gardens of Japan. The gardens of tranquility. Gardens to be contemplated like a painting. These gardens, designed in a setting of Shoin style architecture, led Zen adepts, through contemplation of their art and architecture, to enlightenment.

In creating these gardens the monks, with long wooden rakes, made patterns of strict stylised designs dictated by both the garden boundaries and the specific feeling they needed to obtain. These gardens were not designed for pleasure but as objects of contemplation to be viewed from fixed vantage points.

The Zen gardens, large rectangular shapes based on specific proportions, were framed by borders of cut stone and surrounded on three sides by a wall and, on the remaining side, by a wooden veranda. The viewing point. Large rocks, and rock arrangements, are placed in this rectangular space around which the sand, or very fine gravel, is raked. The whole appearing to be like water flowing around rocks.

We could liken this to sitting meditatively at the side of a creek, just watching the water flow. Good for one's well being. Or taking a break at the side of the road to watch the local farmers slowly rake their large gardens into the most beautiful patterns.

Here, as in the Japanese raked gardens, there are rocks, trees or old stone ruins set into the landscape which, to some extent, dictate the patterns which result. Here as in the consciously designed gardens of the Zen Buddhists the results are rewarding and could easily be contemplative.

I can imagine the farmer, at the end of his working day standing on his veranda and view his raked/ploughed garden, experience a great feeling of well being also. At times feeling he has achieved a masterpiece.

Here, quietly on the side of the road, I am also reminded of the Irish and American patchwork quilt traditions. Maybe carefully designed but always influenced by that which was available. Just like in this huge landscape the materials available, as in the form of the landscape and the tractor, set the tone for the resulting design.

"The power of limits."

TheDelightOfTheDelight

The happy kids in their new sandpit

and then 'willow' the dog came to play

My first 'play'ground was a sandpit in a small backyard in Holland
a place where my creative spirit found its childlike expression
Later in life, as an adult, and a long way from my first sandpit
I played with sand, as a street artist, in a number of city streets in Australia
creating replicas of nearby architectural features
which in time lead to the 'architectural fragment' in Melbourne
Now in Daylesford I delight in the delight of others

'it is your future you are remembering'

TheRapeOfTheLog

From this.........

To this........

The rape harvesting of the forest has begun
the intense and persistent drone of the giant tree eaters

The machine grabs a tree cuts it off at the base
turns it horizontally, peels it, cuts it to size and stacks it
all in no time
In no time reducing the forest too a scene of devastation
we understand that this is tree harvesting
but it is still hard to take
having the local forest environment reduced to this
sigh........

"Nothing divides one as much as thought"

OceanWithoutAShore

The WaterWindow at the NGV an introducton to what lies beyond

What lies beyond I also came to see, it had a connection to the WaterWindow
The new acquisition, a work by Bill Viola, titled: 'Ocean without a shore'
This is best observed with
a feeling of leisure
a feeling of reverence
a feeling of Zen
a feeling of the poetic
or just a feeling of very very slow
Originally this piece was created for the Venice Biennale, 2007
and set in a medieval chapel.

three video panels displaying a waterwall through which people pass
accompanied by an amazing soundtrack
I won't reveal anymore, but,
If you have the time this by itself is worth a visit to Melbourne

I followed this up with a pre-viewing of the movie ELEGY
Ben Kingsley, Penelope Cruz, Dennis Hopper
another poetic, and very moving movie, experience
also worth journey to Melbourne

"honour the playfulness of spirit that lets everyone win"

SkyLight

This feather cloud image was taken over my garden today
the 17th March at 7.30pm

It reminded me of my time with the Pueblo Indians
In many of their houses there was a feather hanging in the doorway
it lightly brushed your head upon entering
to remind you, I was told, to leave any negative feelings you may have, outside
This in turn reminded me of the following:

This has to do with pottery making,
plus, of course, many other aspects of life.
It is about the Spirit line. When an Pueblo Indian potter makes a ceramic bowl, she always decorates it with a painted line along the rim. However, she leaves a small opening in this line. This line is called the spirit line. I asked what this spirit line and small opening in it was for and was told that the opening in the spirit line was a sort of doorway, to allow the spirit of the bowl in and that of maker out. When I asked why that was important, I was told the following, (and this was an important signpost in my life) when your spirit gets caught up in a bowl, or any other object for that matter, it gets imprisoned and stops traveling. Meaning, it stops growing and thus can’t develop anymore.

'Training begins with what you have already learned'

DaylesfordDharmaSchoolHomeTruths

I am presently volunteering at the Daylesford Dharma School

Last Friday there was a visit from the monk Gyatso,
who, among other stories, told us about his three year retreat
some time ago.
He explained how he was all alone
and had no one to talk to
at which one of the younger kids piped up with:

"Did you talk to yourself"

"Life's O.K. I want more of it"

SeoulStreetSong

This afternoon
while rummaging in the vast metropolis of my computer
in the neighbourhood of the suburban district of I-photo
I found this image

I came across this man
writing in the street of Seoul

He arrived with a roll of paper
and a small bucket of ink
unrolled his empty scroll, wrote upon it
and when finished left the writing in the street
picked up his ink bucket
and walked off

One of the daily surprises while writer in residence in Korea

'make your work movements as unhurried as caresses'

WelcomeToAutumn

welcome to autumn
with cool mornings
warm days
and fresh evenings
but first, before that celebration, a few more fire alert days
Like tomorrow here in Victoria Australia
the forecast is for low humidity, stormy wind conditions
and high temperatures
A recipe for potential disaster
Bushfire plan in order
stay safe
no panic

'After each event, take some time off'

FIREfriendFIREenemy

Kiln firing

It is well to remember
that the fire which is our friend
is also our enemy

It is well to remember
to treat it with respect
and because fire is careless
it is well to remember

to treat it with great care

'Be vigilant for negative thoughts in your head'

WeHaveStillNotLivedLongEnough

"There is something sinister also about this dreadful tragedy of 2009, although the character of it is different. Those of us who know and love these forests and the people who live in or near them are especially haunted. In 1939, some of the ignorance and innocence was forgivable, perhaps. “Black Friday” was a late, rude awakening from the colonial era of forest exploitation and careless fire use, and it demanded that people confront and reform their whole relationship with the bush."

from an article which recently came my way. If you would like the whole of the article, which explains events in a different way, email me on art@petrusspronk.com and I'll forward it to you
stay safe and don't panic