#frederickfranck

[ghostofatree]

The Book of Obedience went on over several years but started around the time I first did urban Sketching, invited by @paulg.art I had studied my degree in conceptual fine art, specialising in sculpture, so I imagined it would hard to break into a clique of artists who’s practice was totally different. Paul was right though and they were enormously encouraging and inclusive and interested in what I was doing. The format is that the urban sketchers meet in the first Saturday of each month and draw a particular area of the city decided in advance. They then draw around that area in large enough numbers that one is not alone and circled by critics. It ends with the throw down at the meeting point where we all get to see each other’s work. We are lucky in Liverpool to live in such a stunning city but I would recommend anyone seeing this to find their local urban sketching group on Facebook or here and join in. It helped my confidence and as Frederick Franck said, “I draw for one reason only, to see the world before I die” so drawing for me is also a spiritual practice of placement meditation. Here we have a record of the now removed but iconic Flyover, the Chinese Arch on Chinese New Year, the inside of the Central Library, North John Street and Moorfields station - some years after these drawings I was out with them again today so I include todays drawing of the Metropolitan Cathedral on an old charity shop frame. It was extremely cold today! #sketchbook #sketchbookdrawing #drawing #Liverpool #liverpoolartist #observationaldrawing #urbansketchers #urbansketch #urbansketching #beautifulliverpool #frederickfranck #zenofseeing #liverpoolcathedral #metropolitancathedral (at Liverpool) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpYSwX7spAU/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[cathlyndhappigal]

Evolution of Thought arrived today when my iPad was on. Alcohol ink on Yupo with Ranger and Marabu inks. I used my own blending solution. I am always amazed after finishing a project and then looking at it on video where my thought processes went because it’s almost like I’m watching another person. I definitely get in the zone every single time I start to do art. What a blessing. Sharing my Zen place with the world. Grateful to Frederick Franck and Claske Franck for their friendship and influence in my life. Forever in my heart. #alcoholink #abstractart #aiart #aiartcomm #artoftheday #zensocreative #zensocreativeinstructor #zensotribe #decor #DYI #artwork #Art #contemporaryart #Yupo #rangeralcoholinks #Rangerinks #Marabu #marabuinks #cathlyndhappigal #cathlyn #womanartist #femaleartist #FrederickFranck #zenofseeing #zenart #evolutionofthought

[matteoguarisophotography]

#zen #mindfulness #vedere #consapevolezza #frederickfranck #philosophy #matteoguariso #matteoguarisophotography https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ3QqpiF7zG/?utm_medium=tumblr

[weehughie]

We do a lot of looking: we look through lenses, telescopes, television tubes. Our looking is perfected every day, but we see less and less... • • #frederickfranck #frederickfranckquote #telescope #lifethroughalens #viewthroughalens #lee #leeonthesolent #leeonsolent #leeonsolentbeach #beachlife #seashore #sea #seashore #seaside #coast #coastlife #11promax #iphoneportrait #portraitmode #11promaxportrait #depthoffield #shallowdepthoffield #greysky #solent #solentsky #iow #isleofwight (at Lee-on-the-Solent) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5EH2JEhUSJ/?igshid=pf2wgjhahczd

[iwillnotburnmyjournals]

Days 17 & 18: The only life you have to live is your own

My mind couldn’t get out of obsessive circles these two days. I’ve never thought of myself as an obsessive-minded person – mostly because I associate obsession with artists talking about how obsessed they are with an idea, and I wish to have that problem. But a wise friend pointed out to me, when I was explaining a head-cycle I’m used to, that what I was describing was a classic example of obsessive thinking.

Merriam-Webster’s definition of obsession : a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling

*Neon blinking sign to my head*

When this obsessive thinking is occurring, it feels impossible to pinprick a light-hole through to awareness. Thankfully, I was able to achieve a pinhole at one point, and I realized that I was constantly detaching from my life in order to maintain the possibility of living someone else’s life, or future me’s life. It is this inane distrust in being accepting of the present me because I’m convinced there’s a future, better me and I need to take action now to actualize her. This means, I disassociate and I do not take in the details or the significance of every piece of life that is always surrounding me, wonderfully and overwhelmingly surrounding me.

This pinhole gave me enough intuition to follow an instinct and open a book I’d picked up at a thrift store months ago called The Awakened Eye by Frederick Franck. This is a follow-up book to his The Zen of Seeing, Seeing/Drawing as Meditation which is mentioned as a resource book in The Artist’s Way (serendipity at work). The book is meant to imitate one of Franck’s in-person drawing and meditation workshops. He explains how he began understanding seeing/drawing (his own phrasing) as a Zen practice.

This book really got to me. Franck describes an early childhood experience he had with his grandfather’s stereopticon, a hand-held pair of lenses with two images at the end of it that, when you look through the lenses, become transposed on top of each other creating a 3D image. Franck would look through the stereopticon at the 3D images for hours. He explains how he eventually found that he could choose to have stereopticon vision without the device when he looked at objects or people. “People, when looked at through my mental stereoscope, underwent an extraordinary metamorphosis: each one became the impressively unique, mysterious being he never expected himself to be.” This is the approach Franck uses in his day-long drawing workshops – to treat whatever you are drawing as the most important, all-encompassing thing in the world and draw it exactly as it appears to you. Trust your eyes. He describes imagining the pencil as a seismographic needle, feeling the contours of the leaf or flower you are imitating. When I was drawing, I kept thinking how no one likes when someone else transposes them incorrectly or hurriedly makes a copy of them. And no one likes art of that nature – dishonesty doesn’t work.

This way of thinking and seeing Franck gave to me felt like the first warm day of spring. I had been so exhausted by my obsessive thinking detaching from everything so that future me could have a chance. Even though my drawings did not look as I wanted them to (which wasn’t the point), I have been amazed by the plant-life patterns I have been staring at. Every plant in my vicinity has become important to me when thinking in this way.

There were multiple moments in this “write a song every day” dedication that I wanted to just vomit and say, “You’re hopeless.” But, the idea of the stereopticon really kept me with myself.

But I continued falling back into the emptying, detaching cycle. The degree of absurdity in my thought-line disturbs me. How is it possible to live with such an emptying perspective? It seems like it shouldn’t be allowed humans to be able to be so distant from themeslves. But, if we didn’t have that degree of self-will, the victory would not be so great.

I also read some of Jung’s Red Book and a few lines that stuck with me are as follows:

“Turn your anger against yourself, since only you stop yourself from looking and from living.”

“‘It seems as if I were more real here. And yet I do not like being here.’”

X

[theoccasionalthought]

Years ago, I began creating random pages in my "digital moleskine" and this morning, (stumbling upon folders full of them), am inspired by @foragedsketchpainted to post this one, originally for womanchild (she'll remember).... • • • #livethelittlethings #littlestoriesofmylife #momentslikethese #thehappynow #creativehappylife #chasinglight #beautiful #beautifuldestinations #neverstopexploring #photography #design #typography #wallart #nothingisordinary #everythingisbetter #letsgosomewhere #mytinyatlas #vsco #lifequotes #flashesofdelight #chooselovely #thesimpleeveryday #howihue #write_on #thanks #thisisforyou #frederickfranck #zenofseeing #digitalmoleskine

[ghostofatree]

Apart from learning the basics of printmaking I was enjoying a lot of a return to observational drawing for its own sake in the Book of Lapis. The Zen Bodhisattva of drawing Frederick Franck (who wrote “The Awakened Eye” and “The Zen of Seeing”), had said, “I draw for one reason only, to see the world before I die” in that sense he was describing observational drawing as a mindfulness practice. I think I was quite taken by that view. This set is two self portraits, (The second as wrathful Bodhisattva) a wooden carving of the Green Man, my feet (that drawing that every artist does when there is nothing interesting to draw). A collections of masks on top of the cd cases is next and a graphite study of my wooden Buddha followed by a bag on the seat of a train going somewhere I can’t remember. To close are three Foundation drawing exercises of the same wooden Buddha. The first in continuous line and left handed and the other two just in continuous line. We set these challenging exercises to force students to let go of their preciousness about making “perfect” drawings and to break their expectations about outcome. I still use them now because I think they are a beautiful way to see and record. #sketchbook #drawing #drawingsketch #nostalgia #memories #observationaldrawing #buddha #meditation #frederickfranck #seeing #selfportraitdrawing #drawingasdiary #queerartist #liverpoolartist (at Liverpool) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnE7T-lMwM8/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[johnnyartx]

Today’s dispatches from the Kitchen Psych Ward. Art Therapy at home. Walnut ink, India ink, watercolor, neocolor crayons, sanguine pencil, and lip balm resist on 8.5”x11” card stock. #johnnyyonkers #johnnyart #arttherapy #art_therapy #johnnyartpavlou #chapstick #mentalhealth #fecalsample #woof #alphamale #empathy #etude #secondbuddha #frederickfranck #consolation

[ghostofatree]

Here are another set of the observational hand drawings I did for the recent 50 hands challenge for #liverpoolindependentartschool -Each drawing was about 3 or 4 minutes and I found the headspace of repeated short observational drawings very meditative and mood enhancing. Observational drawing is a particular thing. I draw in order to look and look in order to see and see in order to connect. It would be beautiful to catch glimpses of enlightenment by making simple drawings. For your benefit and benefit of all living beings I charge you to draw your hands or feet 50 times #observationaldrawing #sketchbook #sketchbookdrawing #sketchbookpage #hand #handdrawing #handdrawn #mudra #drawingasmeditation #frederickfranck #seeingtheworld (at Minster Court) https://www.instagram.com/p/ChU02_yMcHi/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ghostofatree]

Here are another set of the observational hand drawings I did for the recent 50 hands challenge for #liverpoolindependentartschool -Each drawing was about 3 or 4 minutes and I found the headspace of repeated short observational drawings very meditative and mood enhancing. Observational drawing is a particular thing. I draw in order to look and look in order to see and see in order to connect. It would be beautiful to catch glimpses of enlightenment by making simple drawings. For your benefit and benefit of all living beings I charge you to draw your hands or feet 50 times #observationaldrawing #sketchbook #sketchbookdrawing #sketchbookpage #hand #handdrawing #handdrawn #mudra #drawingasmeditation #frederickfranck #seeingtheworld (at Minster Court) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQhCBSYMqV0/?utm_medium=tumblr

[ghostofatree]

A couple more from the Book of Places today with a rural twist; the first ones are a drawing I remember doing while in retreat with the Liverpool Triratna Sangha. I remember it was late afternoon and I sat down to draw the view on my own on a plastic chair I had taken outside the lodge. It was the day I really got the sense of drawing being meditation because I became completely absorbed and focused in the activity and didn’t realise it was getting dark and that I had missed the evening meal. That doesn’t necessarily make for a perfect drawing outcome but it does elevate the experience of seeing and drawing to a richer more human one. The second view was one of the last times we took our students to Yorkshire Sculpture Park. We ran lots of field trips in our time, London, Paris, Rydal in the Lakes, YSP, Manchester and of course the galleries in Liverpool but where as once it was a joyful thing and enriched the student experience, a particular manager (the same one who eventually caused our whole team to resign) went out of her way to make it more and more problematic and difficult to organise. Gradually one by one we gave up and stopped including field trips. We had never minded the extra unpaid hours or the unfamiliar working conditions but being deliberately undermined eventually resulted in us realising that we were no longer encouraged to go the extra miles. They were great days while they lasted though. If you’ve never had the chance visit Yorkshire Sculpture Park when it is safe. #sketchbook #sketchbookdrawing #drawing #archive #memories #nostalgia #urbansketching #ruralsketchers #ruralsketching #skipton #yorkshiresculpturepark #ysp #triratnabuddhism #sangha #retreat #frederickfranck #drawingasmeditation (at Skipton, Yorkshire, England) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCyWxPCAhSK/?igshid=1xz2yaf322gh4

[ghostofatree]

The urban sketching in the Book of Obedience also informed the rural sketching (which is the same but with less pavements). I mentioned yesterday the mighty Frederick Franck who was an artist and draftsman in the 70s. He was an amazing character who wrote books such as The Awakened Eye, The Zen of Seeing and Christ Equals Buddha and tried to draw everything he saw. That seemed relevant as a strand of spiritual lineage when out in retreat in Skipton with the Liverpool Buddhist Sangha. I don’t know the names of these places but I have sat and looked at them to drop the dualistic barrier between observer and observed. Part of me is each place I have drawn and part of me remains there now. The first is a beautiful stone road bridge over a low wide stream where I had gone walking with my mitra brother Dan and needed to go back and sit although it was cold and the trees were bare. The second a more distant view of the same. I think it was the following year when we went and it was very hot so we sat and painted it from a islet in the middle of the stream while Buddhashanti and some of the male sangha paddled and swam near by . I’m not sure what became of that painting- I think I may have given it away. The next was the lodge drawn in crushed elderberries growing near the following year, followed by a line drawing with a passage of magical wisdom from Ryokan. Next was a 5 minute view at Freshfields where I had sat in the dunes meditating and the last is the abandoned lifeboat station at beautiful Hilbre Island on a desolate rainy day. I am hankering for green space in lockdown but I will continue to draw #sketchbook #sketchbookdrawing #memories #nostalgia #happierdays #frederickfranck #buddhaeye #landscape #rural #observationaldrawing #meditation #retreat #buddhism #triratnabuddhism #liverpoolbuddhistcentre #queerartist #liverpoolartist (at Skipton, Yorkshire, England) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCD9kV_gpcK/?igshid=4pclvsi4r61q

[ghostofatree]

The Book of Obedience went on over several years but started around the time I first did urban Sketching, invited by @paulg.art I had studied my degree in conceptual fine art specialising in sculpture so I imagined it would hard to break into a clique of artists who’s practice was totally different but Paul was tight and they were enormously encouraging and inclusive and interested in what I was doing. The format is that the urban sketchers meet in the first Saturday of each month and draw a particular area of the city decided in advance. They turn draw around that area in large enough numbers that one is not alone and circled by critics. It ends with the throw down at the Meeting point we’re we all get to see each other’s work. We are lucky in Liverpool to live in such a stunning city but I would recommend anyone seeing this to find their local urban sketching group on Facebook or here and join in. It helped my confidence and as Frederick Franck said, “I draw for one reason only, to see the world before I die” so drawing for me is also a spiritual practice of placement meditation. Here we have a record of the now removed but iconic Flyover, the Chinese Arch on Chinese New Year, the inside of the Central Library, North John Street and Moorfields station #sketchbook #sketchbookdrawing #drawing #Liverpool #liverpoolartist #observationaldrawing #urbansketchers #urbansketch #urbansketching #beautifulliverpool #frederickfranck #zenofseeing (at Central Liverpool, Liverpool) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCCNG4ugXIs/?igshid=or9zj5iz99wh

[ghostofatree]

Apart from learning the basics of printmaking I was enjoying a lot of a return to observational drawing for its own sake in the Book of Lapis. The Zen Bodhisattva of drawing Frederick Franck (who wrote “The Awakened Eye” and “The Zen of Seeing”), had said, “I draw for one reason only, to see the world before I die” in that sense he was describing observational drawing as a mindfulness practice. I think I was quite taken by that view. This set is two self portraits, (The second as wrathful Bodhisattva) a wooden carving of the Green Man, my feet (that drawing that every artist does when there is nothing interesting to draw). A collections of masks on top of the cd cases is next and a graphite study of my wooden Buddha followed by a bag on the seat of a train going somewhere I can’t remember. To close are three Foundation drawing exercises of the same wooden Buddha. The first in continuous line and left handed and the other two just in continuous line. We set these challenging exercises to force students to let go of their preciousness about making “perfect” drawings and to break their expectations about outcome. I still use them now because I think they are a beautiful way to see and record. #sketchbook #drawing #drawingsketch #nostalgia #memories #observationaldrawing #buddha #meditation #frederickfranck #seeing #selfportraitdrawing #drawingasdiary #queerartist #liverpoolartist (at The Georgian Quarter) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBYSog6g68D/?igshid=5tqwl2hleaq0

[johnnyartx]

From the Blanket Fort, Episode 2: Let’s Find a Small Press #johnnypress #johnnyartpavlou #johnpavlouartist #alittlesomething #frederickfranck #selfpublish #smallbooks #johnnyart #1995 #slipcase #inspirational #graphicessay #faith #pretentiousdrivel #unpublished #unpublishable #giftbooks #hallmark #hallmarkbook #hayhouse #waynedyer #vanitypress #vanityprojects #bigsubject