This Holiday Season is most assuredly a time for reflection. 2020, the year of  pandemic and isolation, has nonetheless been a productive year for me: in mid-June, I embarked on a 6-month self-challenge to create a small drawing everyday.

While not a huge stretch for many artists, I felt a need to refocus, prioritize production and commit to solidifying my artistic voice. These past months have given me much more than I could've anticipated: not only a body of work, several series and numerous springboards for future projects, but a deep sense of confidence and insight.

I've selected a few pieces from this journey, and look forward to sharing additional selections as this collection grows (279 and counting!).

Sending out prayers of love and health to you, and my fervent wish for a creative and healthy 2021.

"Up From the Depths"

"Flying"

"Watching and Waiting"

"Tree Dancer"

"Ancestors"

"United- Our Fingers Crossed"

Starfield

This Moment

3AM anxieties give way to morning sunshine 

and the plaintive mewing of my feline companions.

Friday has dawned amid

challenges,

frustration, 

and fear

Yet,

I am suffused by a touch of grace:

hot soup for breakfast,

a window sill of sprouting lettuce leaves straining toward the light,

and my love, softly snoring in the next room.

I am fueled by and filled with 

Gratitude.

-SRasfeld

050120

Notes on painting and art

...on process and painting "Touch Wood":

This will always be an action painting to me.  Not in the art history sense, but in the sense of something alive, something that evolved into its current state.

I worked on this piece intermittently for an entire day-- this little 8x10 that was supposed to be an easy  exercise. I watched it grow and change as the day advanced; at one point, it seemed near completion.  The colors were beautiful, all soft-focus and placid-- a very different work.

Then, with one stroke, I destroyed that feeling. I panicked and almost threw the painting in the trash.

But, this tree would not allow me to do so. I had to keep going, to find a new answer. I had to give up my own plans and let the piece dictate each brush stroke.

Despite my flawed technique, this work now speaks to a deep place within me.

Concerning the Spiritual in Art