This is the title of a mixed-media work I’m completing, currently. It features ashes of recent papers, alcohol inks, sumi-E ink, gold leaf, handmade Japanese washi paper and bookbinding threads. (Progress photos via my instagram link).
Conceptually an amalgam of the tales of Icarus (in which wax wings flying too close to the sun lead to a fall) and the mythical, glorious, avian Phoenix (which, consumed by fire, fearlessly regains and builds strength from its own ashes, to rise renewed) the work represents sentiments guiding my early 2026.
Having taken-on much last year (in many life facets) and ultimately experiencing mentally what endurance athletes refer to as ‘hitting the wall’ or what I have come to call ‘scrambled-eggs-brains’; I have rested and recalibrated now via mind-body-soul nourishment and much self-care.
I am very grateful to those in my inner physical and energetic circles who’ve contributed to this nurturing via their support and belief in me in ‘helping me get where I’m going’. I only hope I can one day return such a gift or ‘pay it forward’.