'that passionate patience....'

...which is the core of life.'  Poet and translator Witter Bynner in his preface to The Jade Mountain, an anthology of Chinese poetry, says that passionate patience characterizes the poetry of the masters of the T'ang Dynasty, and that western poets can learn from a study of this work how best to express that apparently oxymoronic quality in their own poetry. I think all of us would profit from trying to cultivate passionate patience, don't you?
Me, I've never been short in the passion department, but lately (and mostly always) I've been lacking that pesky patience part. And me a gardener! If there ever were an activity that calls for passionate patience, it's the making and sustaining of a garden!
Art making calls for passionate patience, too, and I'm ready to take my couple of weeks' blog break and get rejuvenated on both fronts.
Here's where I'll be spending a lot of time:

And I'll be reading more Chinese poetry, too. The best anthology I've found (other than The Jade Mountain mentioned above---I like Bynner's translations the best) is The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry; from Ancient to Contemporary, the Full 3000-Year Tradition, edited by Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping.  If you haven't read these poems, please do. The imagery in much of Chinese poetry is startling, clear, and pure---for this visual artist, it's a world of endless inspiration. I'll be listening to Chinasong by the Shanghai Quartet, among other things, too.

Finally, here's my first sketch for the Moleyx9 International Exchange. Our group is to render what is outside our windows, so I took that injunction literally this week, and sketched the 'Old Blush' rose outside my bedroom window, in the rain . 'In the rain'---the loveliest phrase in the English language.

See you in a couple of weeks! Be passionate! Be patient!

Comments

[Laura]

Thank you a thousand times for all of your cheers and support! I so needed a mid-course pause and correction. And I so wish you could all be here with me in my garden--we could have a Laurelines convention!

[Bec]

If that beautiful garden of yours doesn't invigorate you I don't know what will!!
I notice in your last garden photo the 2 pots on the left planted with "sky pencils" I think? I just bought 2 of these to do a similar planting -- I hope mine grow as beautifully as yours have!!

[Alina]

Lovely drawing!

[Anthony Z]

Hi Laura! I love your garden and the beautiful view out your window. (By coincidence I sketched something outside my window too this afternoon.) It's an inspiration, I'm sure, to have such natural beauty growing all around you. Wonderful.

[Maryam in Marrakesh]

Your garden is just gorgeous. Sigh, mine still looks like scorched earth:-(

[Just Plain Jane]

Yes, the garden is beautiful and deserves your presence. I'm always appalled at our decision to go away in April when our Southern California garden is at its peak of bloom. Enjoy it to the fullest!