Painting the Dao

97 Colophon Dreamers have one foot on the Stage of Time and one beyond; regardless of whether they are asleep at the time. The Water, Pine and Stone Retreat is similarly situated. At present there is one physically in Sussex, another in Hong Kong, but they become indistinguishable from Black Molly in the Mediterranean, the corner suite at the Sukhothai Hotel or Eagle Tree in Vancouver when I am present. They are also indistinguishable from many in dream states – I have produced some of my best paintings in those, not all of which were reified in the world of dust. Since arriving to enjoy spring in Sussex, a rare occurrence these past few years, I have been in a dream state in the studio, painting a journey to my retreat on the Isle of the Blessed with a log fire crackling in the hearth and qin music making the blossoming winter plum branches on the painting table tremble like an expectant lover. I had little to do with the initial composition – it was not a normal, mortal journey to reach from one end of the handscroll to the other, from first step to destination. Between two foreground pine-strewn rocky paths lay a lengthy journey across an expanse of water with distant mountains. In the absence of a handy boatman, I travelled by simurgh . I sat at the cliff ’s edge overlooking the inaccessible waters below, and calmed my mind, stepping beyond expectation until a crane alighted beside me. It had heard the soundless music in my mind. I mounted its broad back, shrinking to an acceptable size, and it flew me directly to the far cliffs to reunite me with the path through the water-ribboned landscape. I bowed in thanks to my simurgh as it eyed me with respectful indifference, lifted itself almost gracefully into the air and disappeared. I turned to the last stage of my dream journey. The retreat when I arrived was empty, of course, other than for provisions: food, plum wine, ink, paper, brushes and a qin . It is perhaps ironic for one to claim that this will suffice, and that one does not ask for much, while having just created paradise in the here and now to cause delight for eternity, but ‘irony’ is just a word. Perhaps, while here, I should take a morning to write the Diamond Sutra in the sky in invisible calligraphy in order to encourage longevity. But then again, ‘longevity’ is also just a word. Inscribed by the Master of the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat at the Garden at the Edge of the Universe in the spring of 2020. Three artist seals 水松石山房 Shuisongshi shanfang (Water, Pine and Stone Retreat) 攜杖老人 Xiezhang laoren (Old man who carries the staff ) 石狂 Shikuang (Stone fool)