ABOUT MARILYN
Marilyn’s lifetime of artistry includes many mediums and styles of showing, selling, and sharing. Her Galleries below include the most recent, Sumi e, or “ink on paper”, contemporary and retro line drawings of beautiful women, abstract watercolors, abstract oils (her first style) and figurative, naïve, oils.
Marilyn Wells is an American artist adapting her love for minimalism, meditation and Zen Christianity into abstract Sumi e paintings, stark blacks and grays on white mulberry paper, since 2011. Her artworks bear Zen koan inspiration by beginning with a quotation ranging from Rumi to Shakespeare and jazz.
Art was Magic from her earliest memories. Growing up in rural Nebraska during and after WWII, she saw worlds beyond hers through line drawings in children’s story books. Against the drab rooms and towns where she lived, she saw she could create new worlds with her brush and ink bottle. Here was the form she craved; here were her own stories.
She was most recently featured in a Solo Art Show, “Inviting the Mystic” at Metropolitan Frame and has taught meditative Sumi e brushwork class at Walker Fine Art in Denver, Colorado.
artist biography
ARTIST STATEMENT AND RéSUMé>
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PROCESS FOR SUMI PAINTING
To alter my train of conscious thinking, I begin with an unfamiliar line of poetry, a haiku, a koan, or a piece of music I can experience. An emotion within me is evoked on a deeper level than the rational and verbal intellect.
Wanting to experience the unknown, I go into my body. I am listening to a voice within me, not my head voice. After some warm up practice and reacquaintance with brushstrokes and the paint quality, I am quiet in front of a piece of rice paper. Then, out of this deeper space, I respond with my brush and my ink. The image is painted—almost, it seems, of its own accord—as if the brush has a voice of its own.
I have often watched others as they sit with my unfamiliar and foreign work and writing. I watch their face come back renewed as though from a foreign land.
There is a pure Joy in Heartful being that cannot be said. There is a pure Joy in Soulful oneness that cannot be said. Healing comes from that contemplative depth. It feels magical.
The magic is real and it is communicated in vibrating energies within myself, within the viewer, that move out into the world, making it a better, more loving and fulfilling place to be.
Our world is so cerebral. We thirst for a deeper experience. My paintings invite the viewer into that experience. This is also the way of the feminine, a way or knowing in more wholeness, my way of Finding My Heart and Soul in Sumi e Painting.
MARILYN WELLS - ARTIST STATEMENT - FINDING MY HEART AND SOUL IN SUMI E
My way of Finding Heart and Soul is called being in the flow, or in the Silence, or the Way of the Tao. This is the only way of being that lasts, that is eternal. I find this way of being in my sumi e abstract painting. The painting I do is intrinsic to the meditation. They are one in two different forms.
In the silence, I allow the Ch’i to flow through me and through my brush. Heart, soul, and brush are one in flow. New energy, life energy, is born. A shift takes place.
I experience Joy, Peace, Satisfaction that lasts for long periods of time after the work is accomplished. It is a healing process, a sense of being whole.
I carry that Quiet Joy with me. I find it affects, shapes and alters my life. Things are there that were not there before. Time is sometimes altered. I have never been let down. I am carried in this altered way of being and I grow into it increasingly.
This work comes from a contemplative depth of meditation, both Zen Buddhist and Contemplative Christian, and from studying Zen artists, poets and Western abstract artists from Kokoschka through Helen Frankenthaler, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell and all the abstract artists in between.
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MARILYN WELLS - GENERAL ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a Woman who paints the sensual. My figurative paintings and ink drawings are light, playful, and tell stories. I illustrate the feminine in narrative, archetypal, and magical landscapes in which I live, have lived, and want to live, which is a kind and gentle universe.
Because I long for color and I thirst for line, I reveal light against the darkness and strive to reveal the inner light shining within persons I paint.
Art is Magic since my earliest memories. Growing up in rural Nebraska during and after WWII, I saw worlds beyond mine through line drawings in children’s story books. This showed me that, against the drab rooms and towns where I lived, I could create new worlds from my pencil and watercolor tin. Here was the color I craved; here were my own stories.
Today I create my paintings by layering in oil from a dark ground to light. This reveals the essence I finally strive to reveal - inner divinity within a patterned, decorative world.
I return to abstract oil painting when I need to revel in color and raw emotion. The abstract oil paintings have no layering, but are direct and immediate, based on poetry and quotations, in correspondence with my stark black on white Sumi e paintings.
And so I come full circle and reserve the right to fulfill this cyclical series whenever the spirt moves me!
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MORE - TO SEE résumé >
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Education
2001 Jungian Psychotherapy Certification, C.G. Jung Foundation of Colorado, Denver, Colorado
2000 Ph.D. Jungian Psychotherapeutic Studies and Dream Analysis, Greenwich University, Hawaii
1998 Colorado Association of Psychotherapists Certification
1996 Japanese Cultural Studies, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado
1978 M.Ed. Religious Studies, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1975 M.Ed. Major in Art Education, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1974 Banff School of Fine Arts, Drawing and Painting
1968 B.A. Major in Art, Minor in Education, “With Distinction in Art”, Alpha Chi Honor Society for Academic Excellence, Hastings College, Hastings, Nebraska
1961 Drawing and Design, Night Classes, University of Nebraska
Awards / Grants & Recognition
1996 New England Renaissance Studies, National Endowment for the Arts, Concord and Boston, Massachusetts
1978 Royal Guestbook Design for Queen Elizabeth, Town of Vegreville, Queen’s Visit Committee, Vegreville, Alberta, Canada
1975 S. Hodgson Award - Outstanding Achievement, Figure Drawing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1967 Hastings College, B.A. with Art Honors, Hastings, Nebraska
Related Courses
2015-2018 Art Students League of Denver Open Studio, Life Drawing, Denver, Colorado
2014-2012 Life Drawing, Lakewood Cultural Art Center, Lakewood, Colorado
2016-1996 Religious Studies, Contemplative Christianity, Contemplative Outreach, Denver, Colorado, with Thomas Keating O.C.S.O, and
Albuquerque, New Mexico. with Richard Rohr O.F.M.
2008 “A Brush with Emptiness: Zen Creativity and the Art of Emptiness” with Alok Hsu Kwang Han, Sedona Art Center, Sedona, Arizona
1987-1985 Botanical Illustration with Rob Proctor, Denver Botanic Gardens, Colorado
1985 Figure and Watercolor with Buffalo Kaplinsky, Art Students League of Denver, Denver, Colorado
1981-1982 Effective Teaching, 2-year program, Edmonton Public Schools, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1978 Enamel Cloisonné, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1977 Banff School of Fine Arts, Drawing and Painting with Graham Coughtry, Dennis Burton, Banff, Alberta, Canada
1976-1973 Painting and Drawing Figure, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1975-1974 Workshops in Weaving, Enameling, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1973 Portrait Painting with Paul Braid, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1972 Landscape Painting, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Marilyn Wells Résumé 2019
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Teaching: Art Education
1995-90 Grades 6-8, Adams City Middle School, Commerce City, Colorado
1987-86 Grades 10-12, Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado
1985-86 Grades 6-8, Scott Carpenter Middle School, Westminster, Colorado
1984-78 Grades 7-9, Edith Rogers Jr. High, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1978 University of Alberta, Graduate Student Program, Faculty Advisor, Alberta, Canada
1977-67 Grades 10-12, Vegreville Composite High School, Vegreville, Alberta, Canada
1973-72 Adult Art Education with Prof. Wolfarth, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Professional Experience
2013-1997 Director of Operations, Margot Elena Design Studio, Denver, Colorado
2012-1997 Jungian Art Psychotherapy, Private, One on One, Glendale, Colorado
2002-1995 Dream Study Group Work, Denver, Colorado
Professional Research Sabbaticals
2019-2009 Writing - Rocky Mountain Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators
2007 Watercolor Painting, Idhra, Greece
2000-1996 C. G. Jung Foundation of Colorado, Denver, Colorado
1978-1976 Martin Buber, I-Thou Dialogical Relationships, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
Teaching – Adult Workshops and Community Outreach by the Artist
2019 Scheduled: “Urban Sketching” Daylong Workshop, Louisville Art Association, Louisville, Colorado
2019 Scheduled: “Find your Heart and Soul in Meditative Sumi-e Brushwork”, Foothills Art Center, Golden Colorado
2019 Scheduled: "Find your Heart and Soul in Sumi Brushwork, Mayu Meditation Ctr., Denver, CO
2019 “Find your Heart and Soul in Meditative Sumi-e Brushwork”, Walker Fine Art, Denver, Colorado
2019 “Urban Sketching”, Louisville Art Association, Louisville, Colorado
2019-2014 Denver Urban Sketching, Denver, Colorado
2016-2011 MarilynWellsArtJournal.com – blog
2010-1998 “No Fear Watercolor”, Artist Within Studio, Glendale, Colorado
2009 “Dream Analysis & Carl Jung” University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado
2008-1997 Dream Study, Mind, Body Health, Community College Aurora, Aurora, Colorado
2008-1997 Creative Visualization as Art, Mind, Body Health, Community College Aurora, Aurora, Colorado
2008-1997 Expressive Painting for Healing, Dream Study, Mind, Body Health, Community College Aurora, Aurora, Colorado
1999-1997 Watercolor, Arvada Center, Lakewood, Colorado
1975-1965 Community Art Club, Vegreville, Alberta, Canada
Marilyn Wells Résumé 2019 (Cont'd)
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Publications
2000 “The Light in the Shadows, African American Stories as Jungian Path of Individuation or Campbell’s Heroic Journey” Dissertation for Ph.D., Greenwich University, Hawaii
1983 The Annual Journal of Canadian Society Education through Art, “A Buberian Reflection on Current Art Education Textbooks”
1981 “Buberian Dialogical Relationships”, University of Alberta, Masters in Art Education Thesis, Alberta, Canada,
1976-1967 Vegreville Observor Newspaper, numerous publications about the artist & her work, Vegreville, Alberta, Canada
1966 Hastings Nebraska Daily Tribune, Prize Winners in Art, head shot & painting image Hastings, Nebraska
Board Related Activities
1975 Pysanka Memorial Commission Committee, Community of Vegreville, Vegreville, Alberta, Canada
1968-1973 Vegreville Preventative Social Services Board member, Vegreville, Alberta, Canada
Solo Exhibitions
2019 Metropolitan Frame Colorado, “Inviting the Mystic”, Denver, Colorado
2017 Aurora Cultural Arts District, “The Imagery of Healing”, Aurora, Colorado
2016 Margot Elena Design Studio, “Art and Jazz Performance Poetry” Inverness Park, Englewood, Colorado
Various International Acquisitions & Private Collections
USA
Canada
Europe
Memberships and Associations
2019-2017 Sogetsu Ikebana Society of Colorado and International Ikebana Society
2019-2017 Philantrophic Educational Organization Chapter FI, Colorado
2019-2016 Colorado Sumi-e Society, Denver, Colorado
2019-2014 Art Students League of Denver, Colorado
2019-2009 Rocky Mountain Society of Children’s and Writers and Illustrators
2021-2000 Registered Psychotherapist, Colorado Mental Health Grievance Board, State of Colorado Department of Regulation, Denver, Colorado
2019-2000 Jung Society of Colorado
Exhibition Record
Group - Invitational
2018 Capital Tea, Denver, Colorado, “Sumi-e Today”
2004-1999 Catwalk Gallery, Denver, Colorado, “Artist Within” Art Series
2004-1996 Bloom Gallery, Lawrence, Kansas, “Women in Nature” – sand paintings
1998 Workshops Open Studio Tour, Glendale, Colorado, “Summer Artists”
1998 Denver Center for Performing Arts Open Exhibition, Denver, Colorado, “Colorado Presents”
1995 PBS Art Auction, Denver, Colorado
1985 South West Plaza, Littleton, Colorado
1985 Kaleidoscope Coffee House, Aurora, Colorado
1978-1975 Wells Art Studio and Henley Art Gallery, Vegreville, Alberta, Canada
1975 Aurora Historical Museum, Aurora, Nebraska
1968 Hastings College Retrospective Exhibit, Nebraska
1961 Student Exhibit, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska
Juried Exhibitions
2018 Niza Knoll Art Gallery, “Sumi-e Painting/Traditional and Emerging Expressions”, Juried by: Mamiko Ikeda, Denver, Colorado
Marilyn Wells Résumé 2019 (Cont'd)
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FULL RÉSUMÉ UPON REQUEST
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Professional Experience
Art Teacher
Elementary-Post Graduate
and Private Lessons
Dream Study,
Denver, Colorado
Jungian Art Psychotherapy,
Denver, Colorado
Watercolor Painting,
Idhra, Greece
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Red Darling
"Imagine the time the particle you are
Returns where it came from.
The family darling comes home. Wine, without being contained in cups, is handed around.
A red glint appears in a granite outcrop,
And suddenly the whole cliff turns to ruby. “
Rumi 181O
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Oil On Canvas 20" x 24" $1500
I Am, O Anxious One
“...Don’t you hear my voice...?
If you are the dreamer, I am what you dream.
But when you want to wake, I am your wish,
and grow strong...
above the strange and distant city, Time.”
Rilke - (I am, O Anxious One. Don’t you hear my voice)
“Book of Hours” 184O
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Oil On Canvas 20" x 24" $2000
Standing Still in the Light
1903W “Standing Still and Being Astonished”
My work…which is mostly standing still
and learning to be astonished.”
M. Oliver - Messenger
15.5" x 11" on Arches 300 lb watercolor paper
$350 unframed
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The Great Expanse
1906W “The Great Expanse”
…just crossing the gray expanse
of each minute with all the
compassion and
dignity we can
find.
Hafiz - The Great Expanse
15.5" x 11" on Arches 300 lb watercolor paper
$350 Unframed
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No Ferry
1907W “No Ferry”
There’s no ferry upon either shore,
but though it’s mighty hard to see the way,
yet you will cross.
Han Shan
15.5" x 11" on Arches 300 lb watercolor paper
$350 Unframed
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Cloud Roads 2
1908W “Cloud Roads”
And cloud roads, where are they?
Cloud roads are empty; cloud roads
are in empty space.
-Han Shan LXXXVIII
15.5" x 11" on Arches 300 lb watercolor paper
$350 Unframed
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Morning Glory's Hour
1909W “A Morning Glory’s Hour”
My span of years
today appears
a morning glory’s hour.
- Arakida Moritake 1472-1549 written on his deathbed at age 75. It was also his birthday.
15.5" x 11" on Arches 300 lb watercolor paper
$350 Unframed
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No Attempt to Possess
“Only one who makes no attempt to possess it
cannot lose it.”
-Lao Tzu - Tao Te Ching 185O
Oil On Canvas 20" x 24" $1500
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After Matisse
This drawing is an elegant rendition of an old favorite by Matisse.
Original Ink, 20" x 16.5", on blend of kozo (mulberry) + cotton, museum quality art paper. The textured surface lends unique artistic depth to these artworks. Ltd Edition of 50 - $200
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After Matisse
This drawing is a second rendition of an old favorite by Matisse.
Original Ink, 20" x 16.5", on blend of kozo (mulberry) + cotton, museum quality art paper. The textured surface lends unique artistic depth to these artworks. Ltd Edition of 50 - $200
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After Picasso
Original Ink, 20" x 16.5", on blend of kozo (mulberry) + cotton, museum quality art paper. The textured surface lends unique artistic depth to these artworks., Ltd Edition of 50 - $200
This drawing is an delicate rendition of an old favorite by Picasso.
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Figure in Profile
Original Ink, 20" x 16.5", on blend of kozo (mulberry) + cotton, museum quality art paper. The textured surface lends unique artistic depth to these artworks. Edition of 50 - $200
This drawing is a rendition of Marilyn's.
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Girl and Cat
Original Ink, 20" x 16.5", on blend of kozo (mulberry) + cotton, museum quality art paper. The textured surface lends unique artistic depth to these artworks. Ltd Edition of 50 - $200
This drawing is a memory of Marilyn's.
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Woman at Table
Original Ink, 20" x 16.5", on blend of kozo (mulberry) + cotton, museum quality art paper. The textured surface lends unique artistic depth to these artworks. Handcrafted Paper, Ltd Edition of 50 - $200
This drawing is a rendition of a memory of a bistro in France.
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Come Dance With Me
God only knows four words, "Come dance with me." - Rumi
14" x 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted original $325
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Life Too Sacred
Indeed God has written a thousand promises all over your heart that say, Life, Life, Life, is far too sacred to ever end. -Rumi
14" x 18" on mulberry paper
flat mounted original $325
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Lust...
...the thousand pound odometer meter on the dashboard of the infinite"...T.Robbins
14" x 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted original $325
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Collision
"We're not involved in a relationship, you and I, we're involved in a collision. - Tom Robbins
14" x 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted original $325
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I Shall Read My Course in the Stars...
"When night has fallen I, delivered, shall read my course in the stars." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
14" x 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted original $325
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A Jar Full of Delight
Every object, every being,
is a jar full of delight…
Rumi 1811S
14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted & framed $625
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The Dragon's Jewells
The dragon’s jewells are found
in every wave.
Looking for the moon, it is
Here, in this wave, in the next.
-Dogen 1812S
14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted original $325
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Frog pond.
A leaf falls in
without a sound.
Matsuo Bashō 1644-1694 1813S
14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted original $325
Frog Pond
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14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted, framed $625
Joys and Sorrows Pass - 3
Joys and sorrows pass, each by each,
Failure one moment, happy success the next.
But for me, I have chosen freedom
from the world’s cares. I chose simplicity.
-Hsieh Ling-Yun (385-433) . 1814S
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Joys and Sorrows Pass - 2
Joys and sorrows pass, each by each,
Failure one moment, happy success the next.
But for me, I have chosen freedom
from the world’s cares. I chose simplicity.
-Hsieh Ling-Yun (385-433) 1814S
14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted, framed $625
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14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted, framed $625
What you Really Love
Let yourself be silently drawn
by the stronger pull of what you really love.
Rumi 1815S
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A Pearl on the Bottom
When you see a pearl on the bottom,
you reach through the foam and the
broken sticks
on the surface.
Rumi 1831S
14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted original $325
print $125
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Sheba’s Throne 2
14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted, framed $625
Solomon saw that her heart was open to him
And that the throne would soon
be left behind.
Rumi 1816S 2
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Totally Empty
Every moment, the sunlight
is totally empty and totally full.
Rumi 1817S
14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted, framed $625
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Uncertain Hour
“In the uncertain hour before the morning
Near the ending of the interminable night…
“Little Gidding’ - T. S. Eliot 181S
14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted, framed $625
print $125
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14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted original $325
print $125
Last Chance
Look, I want to love this world
as though it’s the last chance
I’m ever going to get
to be alive
and know it.
October - Mary Oliver 1821S
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Dream and Glide Deeper
14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted original $325
At night before sleeping you
take off the tight shoes,
and your soul releases
into a place it knows.
Dream and glide deeper.
Rumi (CB) 1820S
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14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted original $325
Make of Yourself A Light
Make of yourself a light
said the Buddha
before he died.
-Mary Oliver 1822S
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14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted, framed $625
This Now Is It
This now is it. Your deepest
Need and desire
is satisfied by this moment’s energy
here in your hand.
Rumi “Father Reason” 1824S
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14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted, framed $625
Don't Go To Strangers
Don’t go to strangers.
Just come on home to me.
Etta James 189S
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14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted, framed $625
To Live With My Eyes Open
…this much I have learned—
if not enough else—
to live with my eyes open.
Mary Oliver 187S
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14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted original $325
Love Hawk 1
This dove here senses
the love-hawk floating above
and waits and will not be driven
or scared to safety.
-Rumi 185S
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My God, You Surprise Me
“My God,
you surprise me
being right in my middle…”
1831S
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14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted original $325
The Darkness Shall Be Light
So the darkness shall be light,
and the stillness the dancing.”
“East Coker” - T.S. Eliot 184S
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14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted original $325
The End of our Exploration
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
“Little Gidding” - T.S. Eliot 183S
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14" by 18" on mulberry paper,
flat mounted original $325
Fine art
by Marilyn wells
Denver COlorado