Presence of
the Dragonfly

July 2016

At this time of year, dragonflys are everywhere! Young ones, usually at water's edge, are leaving their outer shells. Others are bonded together as one. Most are in motion; they are nature's helicopters. And when the human body is the dragonfly's actual landing pad, encounters are vast; today one landed on large fabric I was carrying/hugging and that moment was a holding space, an opening into gratitude.

It was also an invitation to start carving this piece, one of the multiple blocks that I have ready to go. Other blocks are at more basic stages of development. Some blocks are only cut to size, with sharp, thick scissors, without any further progress. Others have initial drawing work. And yet others, like my "dragonfly" block, have been drawn as much as they can be, and all that's left before printing is the extensive carving work. In the studio, I can reach these various blocks easily; they represent momentum, that beautiful force that shifts us into action.

Movement is the essential ingredient in creation/action.

An eye-to-eye encounter in silence.
The dragonfly's close-up visit.
​The invitation to release and carve. 

There is a finality that can't be reversed in this step of printmaking. It is also liberating; the block begins to take its own life and the printmaker works as a sculptor, a celebrator of form and surrender.
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​This block is also a continuation of a series of already-completed linocuts: the embracing woman, a woman at peace with this world of duality, of loss and gain, of despair and hope. May we accept the blessings that surround us.

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Thanks for stopping by and have a glorious summer!

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All images and text © Nicola Barsaleau. All rights reserved.