revisiting a previous sketchbook page during my 60 minute practice session
A great water logged book I found on a walk! Salvaged all the images when I got home.
Happy New Year middle-aged mammals!
It’s still raining in Los Angeles. How’s the weather in your neck of the woods? Do tell.
Art Mammals Inc. the solo-flying, middle-aged, art queens have been meeting regularly and I’m enjoying them so much. Yesterday in one of our groups we did 1 minute blind contour drawing then held 5 minute poses for each other. There was lots of laughter when everyone revealed their work. Nothing is better to shrug off the dismal state of the world than blind contours.
In my next sketchbook flip over on the Substack, I’ll give an update, but for now here’s a sample:
This morning I popped into a coffee shop for a rainy morning journal writing session and some sketching of unsuspecting patrons. Much to my surprise there was a live jazz group getting started. Once again my tiny 3×5 Art Creations sketchbook came in very handy. I carry it with me everywhere and will never go without one again. I had the best seat in the house for sketching. Somehow I managed not to draw too much attention to myself in my neon coral raincoat.
I’ll leave SEWN up for the entire month of January. Enjoy it! AS I’ve said before I’ll be doing this for more of my classes from time to time. Subscribe to this space if you want the passwords next time I give them away. I’ll offer up SEWN for a few more days and then it will be closed to new people. This community here on DFLA has given me so much over the long years and I’ve met many friends and been inspired by so many of you. Ticket to Venice was the offering in November/December. (closed now)
Okay. Over and out. Saluting you from my cozy lantern-lit retirement cottage. I start my first ever Yoga class next week. I can’t help thinking this will be a comedy of errors and very unlike the ease with which I’ve taken up swim classes, but I’m trying to keep an open mind. Light some candles for me. And for yourselves.
A small poem. Alas without a known author.
The Seeker
I had not spared myself.
I had been bold in my endeavor.
In the great search for wisdom
I had travelled near and far,
and never tired of seeking out
the celebrated names.
But one day
one line in one work
stopped me in my tracks.
How I blushed, ear to ear,
as it sang into my heart:
“Stand still, and do not waver
from your emptiness!”
Which reminds me I’m also starting a meditation group on Monday at 6 a.m. Light more candles! Take good care. Inform me of your whereabouts and whatabouts.
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Not sure how I missed Ticket to Venice, one of the best classes ever! Must have commented in the wrong place.
If I’m still in time for Sewn that would be amazing.
And hopefully ready for Full Tilt Boogie ( best class title ever! 🏆)
As always a joy to follow you.
Always inspired
M
Hiya! Love your portrait pic ~ adorable, adorable you!!
I’m also a meditator yoga girl. Make it your own and you’ll really love both. Hope you have great guides for these new journeys. Please let us know how it goes!
Kas
(Rainy today and 50F around Chicago, oh global warming, you worry me so!)
Here in South East Queensland, It is digustingly hot , humid and about to get wet ant day now
I love to see Gwen in whatever form she takes. In your sketchbook is one great way, in my living room under the tree is another, as we do an annual advent box swap and I have several lovely handmade pieces from her under there right now. Hoping to fill the sketchbook with some gouche this January and the sewn journal cover with sewn pages as I re-watch your class. Please send the login info. I thought I’d already submitted my request, but I just searched my emails and could not find it. blessings. Also, I went to Wet Paint in St. Paul on Sunday and sent you good energy from that glorious space. Truly you should come visit it in person. Before Tim Walz is no longer governor and we are stuck with someone not as magical.
Hi Mary Ann, I loved your description of your coffee shop/jazz band journaling session and the Sewn flip thru. Seeing it made me want to revisit the class. I’d love to have the password if it’s not too late.
I love the horse show ribbons and horse paintings/photos around your house. You’ve inspired me to hang up a few horse pics and a show ribbon from my youth. After a few grey days here, we’re back to sunny and 72 degrees in Florida. The clouds are pink and gold blobs on the lake at sunset – I hope the yoga class went well this morning!
I will be interested in hearing how you enjoy the yoga class! I’ve been doing it for some time, after a knee injury, and it made all the difference in my healing. Much more than conventional medicine had to offer (one more cortizone shot). Being limber and nimble in our advancing years makes such a huge difference. Up here in the gloomy PNW we are getting ready to put our house back on the market and saying our prayers and crossing our fingers for a sale and a return home to the golden state. Already dreaming of friendly faces, fresh produce at farmers markets and beach walking in wintertime.
Hello Mary Ann! I hope that I am not too late for your very generous offer for Sewn! Thanks for you’re overflowing, fun and inspiration!
Hi MAM! Could you please share a link for the 3×5 sketchbook you’re using? Thank you! 🙂
It is by TALENS Art Creation Sketchbook 3.5 x 5.5. under 8$.
Hi Mary Ann. I really enjoyed SEWN the first time around. I would love to have the password. Happy New Year!
I tried to find the author online but no success. However, my AI informant/companion gave me lots of info that entertained me!
“What can be said with reasonable certainty
1. The poem is not traceable to a well-known published poet
The wording, structure, and imagery do not match any poem reliably attributed to major English-language poets (Rilke, Eliot, Mary Oliver, Tagore, etc.), nor does it appear in standard poetry databases or anthologies under that title.
I don’t recognize it as a canonical poem, and neither do major literary reference sources.
⸻
2. The quoted line strongly echoes Eastern philosophy, not Western poetry
“Stand still, and do not waver from your emptiness!”
This line is highly characteristic of:
• Zen Buddhism
• Daoist (Taoist) thought
• Possibly Chan Buddhist commentary
Key clues:
• Emptiness (śūnyatā) is a core Buddhist concept
• Stand still / do not waver reflects meditative instruction
• The tone resembles a koan or teaching line rather than lyric poetry
It sounds less like a poem being quoted, and more like a translated aphorism or teaching, possibly paraphrased.
⸻
3. The poem itself may be modern, personal, or unpublished
The overall voice suggests:
• A reflective seeker
• Exposure to classical texts
• A moment of sudden insight
• A narrative arc common in modern spiritual memoir poetry
This strongly suggests one of the following:
• A contemporary poet with limited circulation
• A poem published in a small journal, retreat booklet, or spiritual magazine
• A poem written by someone deeply immersed in Buddhist or contemplative study
• Possibly even a teacher, student, or retreat participant, not a career poet
⸻
What this poem most closely resembles (stylistically)
• Zen-inspired English poetry (mid–late 20th century onward)
• Spiritual reflection poems written about awakening rather than performing it
• Poems influenced by:
• Zen teachers’ talks
• Translations of Asian texts
• Western seekers recounting an “aha” moment
But again: not traceable to a single known author.
⸻
If you want to investigate further, here are your best options
1. Search the quoted line alone, without quotation marks, in:
• Buddhist text archives
• Zen teaching collections
• Retreat transcripts
2. Ask:
• Where did you encounter it? (book, card, website, retreat handout, personal correspondence)
3. Check:
• Whether the poem may have been circulated anonymously
• Whether it was part of a teaching or newsletter, not a poetry collection
Often poems like this were written for private or communal spiritual use, not for literary fame.
⸻
A gentle personal note (and why this matters)
This poem reads like something that finds a person rather than something they seek out—and those poems often travel without passports or names.
In a way, the final line almost resists authorship:
Stand still, and do not waver from your emptiness.
That sentiment is very much in keeping with traditions that value transmission over attribution.”
Hi Mary Ann, I have subscribed to your substack. I have just watched A Couple of Old Sewn Pattern Sketchbooks. I would love to have the password for SEWN. Happy New Year from New Zealand.
oh i so loved your description of the rainy day foray to the little shop with jazz playing! would have loved to have been there to wearing my deep plum colored raincoat!
Alas, i am in NY under a blanket of fresh snow… thanks again for taking us all with you. absolutely loved the b & w pic of you. enjoy your days
oh your raincoat is the stuff of dreams, while mine the stuff of garish nightmares. what a fine pair we would make listening to the jazzy folk!
Sister!!! Love the evidence of your first attempts at winking. Let’s do winking blind contours asap!
tee hee.
but of course we will!
Happy New Year from Cape Cod! I would love to have the password to SEWN if possible. Thank you for your postcards, and congratulations on your retirement! Until my own arrives I am vicariously enjoying yours!
Is it too late for the Sewn password? I’d love to take that course. Thank you for your generosity.
Dear MaryAnn,
I would love to have access to Sewn!!! My sewing machine and I are not best friends… maybe this will reconcile us? 😊
Thank you so much and Happy New Year!
You inspire me, yes you do. Your childhood photo is a hoot – I can see the adult personality in the child. I’m going to start carrying a sketchbook. Who knows? Maybe I’ll start sketching again…. Would love the password to sewn – I’m sure I’ve taken most of your classes over the years and I am in need of inspirational refreshment.
Blindingly sunny these days, but the temperature drops down in the evenings, thank goodness.
I LOVE that you successfully salvaged a lovely book. It’s a special talent, and what a treasure in return!
How glad I am to have you in our group Meg and how jealous I am of your blinding sun. soon ours will return.
Hi Mary Ann! I so enjoy reading your newsletters and would comment on all of the fabulous photos and content, but I don’t have your gift of writing. Know that you are admired and appreciated. I’m glad you mentioned you’re on Substack, how fun!!! LOVED the flip through of your colorful and unique SEWN books. Go ahead and spoil me with the password, please 😁. I hope the New Year spoils you in return 💐 🌈🦋.
Happy New Year. May the days be full of new delightful experiences and new friends. I hope your yoga adventure makes you as flexible as you desire. And of course I would love the password for Sewn. Cheers from MI.
Thank you! You have inspired me over the years. I appreciate you.
Lordy– Arrow Hwy and Covina Blvd took me back. That’s near Puddingstone, a place we used to catch crawdads with bacon tied to a string. I lived very near there in the 60’s. I’m far away from there now, and have been for more than 50 years. I can walk to the Salish Sea from my house. It’s raining here this week. Perfect weather for planning the veg garden. Blauschokker peas may make an appearance next spring.
Your posts give me much joy, I especially love seeing your photos of your neighbourhood and your travels in California as I sit here in frosty land locked Leicestershire in the UK. You bring light and joy thank you.
Yes yes yes, I visited a friend in Chino on New Years and the mountain vistas and rolling hills of our California were shimmering. I bet the Salish Sea is very lovely indeed as was your recollection of adventures at Puddingstone all those decades ago.
All your new activities sound peaceful and relaxing… meditation, yoga, swim. I took a Pilates class years ago, with a teacher who was quite advanced in age. I was so impressed with her agility and grace. I laughed my way through the first class as I rolled around like a webble, but just as she said muscle memory kicked in and I was soon able to reasonably do most of the movements. Enjoy all of your new found fun!
Oh – i am so retired. I am interested in putting some structure into my days…please send me the password and instructions to access SEWN. Thanks.
Here’s to another year ahead. Hopefully it’s a good one. Here in NE Ohio it’s bitter cold and snowy. Wish we had never left Southern California.
And I would love the passwords for SEWN when you get a chance. Thanks… Debbie 😸
Hey Mary Ann,
I would love the password to sewn…seems like a fun group of assignments! And a new year to try new things. Enjoy all your new adventures…especially the yoga. ☺️
Bridget Kowey
Oh how I love these snippets! Often the best part of my day.
Missing Diane Keaton in Arizona
Karen
Hi Mary Ann,
It’s been a snowy winter here in Minnesota. The snow is lovely, and it’s a nice change from recent brown and cold winters.
Hugs from the Midwest!
Briana hello!!!! stay warm in your great state of minnesota xo
I adore making blind contour drawings!!-especially of people! you have the perfect classes and groups–hope you get some relief from the rain!
Happy New Year, MAM! It’s very cold here, 20s F. I’m obsessed with merino wool clothing at the moment. Hopefully it will help me pack lighter. I bought The Correspondent at the Barnes and noble 25% off sale. Haven’t started it yet.
Back to work on Monday…eeek