Category Archives: Marissa Bridge and I

Another Threshold

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It’s been months since Marissa Bridge and I came to the end of our weekly blog collaboration: her thirty six orchid paintings from bud to naked stem, with short essays by me.  Next Saturday, we begin again, but this time, instead of art, language will be our initiator.   I intend to choose a weekly word from the Oxford English Dictionary, and use it in a short essay.  In turn, Marissa will match what I write with a piece of visual art.

This practice is our commitment to creativity, but were it not for you, our followers, it might not happen.

In appreciation,                                                                                                                       Stephanie

(Photo by me in Bali.)

 

#33: Muliebrity Comes to Town

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Muliebrity is what I see in this fading flower.  Soft colors, veins in petals, flesh and tentacles, its form is totally feminine.  Just in case, muliebrity refers to womanly powers, the female version of virility.  Interesting that most people are quite familiar with the masculine description, but the woman’s term is little known.  Therefore America, get ready, because muliebrity and virility are Stronger Together.

 

#6: The Dance

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To add words to Marissa Bridge’s 36 images of one orchid going through a bloom cycle is a weekly mystery that unfolds only when I sit at the computer and stare at the current painting.  Yesterday I was away, had the tiny image on my phone, but no words came to  mind.  This practice simply cannot be done on the fly.

Home again, #6 looks like a dancer performing joy and trepidation.  And by staring simultaneously at the image and the blank page, I discovered the obvious: this process is similar to a blooming flower’s.  To produce takes time, certain conditions, patience, and commitment.  Nothing less will do.

Resurrection Two

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When I began the first of 36 weekly posts last Sunday, I did not think of saving the title of Resurrection for Easter.  It was the first day of Spring, with signs popping up everywhere, and until then, my blog lay dormant for two years.  Hence, for this Easter installment, Resurrection Two.  

The last two years I have been tied to the writing of three different columns.  With all of them now over, ideas are gestating until the next one comes along.  The discipline of deadlines is good for all the writing I do.  In the meantime, I’m working on a book of essays about hard learned lessons, and collaborating with Marissa Bridge on an art book called Blossoms Journey.  

Using the metaphors of flowers and Easter, may I remind you that we have many chances to renew, to come alive in another form.  Whatever you do, avoid missing out on them.  Every stage of life brings another possibility of resurrection. Find each one, live it to the fullest, and today, have a Happy Easter.

 

Resurrection

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Dear Readers:

Wild nature of New York is still here, experiencing a resurrection on the first day of Spring.  Marissa Bridge and I have a book idea, and as an exercise toward a finished project, we are posting one of her paintings a week for thirty-six in total, all the images from her series, Silent Journey.  It’s a visual chronicle of orchid blossoms through every stage, a metaphor for the cyles of life in all living beings.

Stay tuned for the next installation.  Life does go on.