In this blog series I reveal some words behind the art of “Love Letters to Henry Miller”. For each of the nine, I start with a  note from my journal that were inspired by his writing and watercolor paintings. This is followed by a quote by Miller.

Love Letter to Henry Miller 4

©Kathleen O’Brien, Love Letter to Henry Miller, 4

I mentioned in an earlier post about how my pilgrimage to Big Sur influenced my art.  “Always Merry and Bright”, and several others by the same are still favorites.  “Big Sur Dancer” is constructed very simply with Big Sur driftwood, shells, stones and Kaffe Fassett fabric. She revolves above my bath tub, inviting me to soothe myself and soul with water (preferably ocean type).

“The creative life! Ascension. Passing beyond oneself. Rocketing out into the blue, grasping at flying ladders, mounting, soaring, lifting the world up by the scalp, rousing the angels from their ethereal lairs, drowning in stellar depths, clinging to the tails of comets.” ~ Henry Miller, “Sexus (The Rosy Crucifixion, Book 1)”: originally published 1949, Obelisk Press, Paris France; © Henry Miller Estate, 1965; published 1965, Grove Press, NY, NY

Love Letter to Henry Miller 7

©Kathleen O’Brien, Love Letter to Henry Miller, 7

I create mysterious views into a place of imagination that offer respite from duty, a time of quiet of the soul. To refuel…

“If we could stop tampering with the world, we might find it a far better place than we think it to be. After all, it’s the only place. And whether it is to be ours for a few more weeks or a few more million years we will never get to know it, only to enjoy it, appreciate it, love it for what it is. In the end as in the beginning the word is-mystery. This mystery exists or thrives in every smallest particle of the universe. It has nothing to do with size or distance, with grandeur or remoteness. Everything hinges upon how you view the world.” ~ Henry Miller, forward to “The Angel is My Watermark!”  by Henry Miller, Big Sur, California, April 7, 1960

Love Letter to Henry Miller 9

©Kathleen O’Brien, Love Letter to Henry Miller, 9

This year’s title is “good things come to me; I go forward.

“Between the planes and spheres of existence, terrestrial and superterrestrial, there are ladders and lattices. The one who mounts sings. He is made drunk and exalted by unfolding vistas. He ascends sure-footedly, thinking not of what lies below, should he slip and lose his grasp, but of what lies ahead. Everything lies ahead. The way is endless, and the farther one reaches the more the road opens up.” ~ Henry Miller, “Sexus (The Rosy Crucifixion, Book 1)”: originally published 1949, Obelisk Press, Paris France; © Henry Miller Estate, 1965; published 1965, Grove Press, NY, NY

to be continued….