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For a time in 2014 I was exploring and playing with ancient alphabets. It began with being outside at night, observing constellations and copying the Greek letter names of the stars to help memorize them. It wasn’t long before I was as fascinated with the marks and their origins as with the night sky. One thing led to another and soon I was copying Phoenician pictographs and the Sanskrit alphabet. At the same time my notebook was filling up with lines and pages of spontaneous free form marks. The marks were a combination of energy and abstract image. Eventually my interest shifted, I became absorbed in something else and the time was forgotten. There’s a sample in the post “Late autumn forest” from October 2014.
Seven years later, in the fall of 2021 I bought an Apple Pencil, thinking I could start using my iPad as a notebook. It took a long time before I was comfortable with that process. However, although the idea was for note taking, it was my drawing that took off in a way it probably hadn’t since I was a child.
I was surprised to see myself pick up where I left off in 2014. Pages of marks began flowing in a manner that felt like writing or calligraphy. Within the text, ideas and associations emerged.
A mark could take on a life of its own.
Story fragments emerged with the same light and easy spontaneity. Some with words. Some without.
Dancing on Frozen Beaver Ponds 