early morning

I picked the tulips yesterday. In the early morning light, they were mirroring the colors in my art. Outside coming in, inside matching out.

I was just reading (in David Hinton’s book, Hunger Mountain) about the Chinese graph for the word sincerity: it’s the image of a man right next the the image for words; i.e. the inside is the same as the outside. What you say is who you are.

And this same idea is expanded into the understanding of the universe in Chinese philosophy. And then, when you add the truth of change, constant change, then you have day leading to night, life to death, inside to outside… The yin (female earth) as one polarity moving into yang (heaven) and that moving back to yin, on and on.

After so many months of spending time indoors, I am drawn to the outdoors. That’s now. In a number of months, my movement will flow back in. In my art, I wanted light and airy, and I produced a piece large and loose. Now, I’m seeking dense and coiled. One involvement evolves out of another. And what I want inside is what shows up outside.

Watching this flow. This movement of in and out. Sincerity: such a beautiful concept.