DELIVERANCE

5 of 5 in my series of worship folder cover art for the Sundays of August. The pastors are focusing on the Old Testament lectionary texts, working with the theme of "Restoration and Renewal." Once I created the first paper cut collage, the others came to me in quick succession. It was serious play!

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"Deliverance"
Jeremiah 15:15-21

STURGEON MOON

"Sturgeon Moon," Speedball block printing ink, art marker, and found paper on cardboard box panel.

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Today, I observed the full moon by sitting this morning with my lineage temple for a fusatsu ceremony—a time of atonement, repentance, and renewing the bodhisattva precepts/vows I'll take in less than a year.

This evening, I sat with my home temple of South Sound Zen, for one of my "better" sits, which countered last week's body shenanigans.

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Moon's voice is the bell 

calling me to the cushion— 

a body of tides

SUCCULENCE

4 of 5 in my series of worship folder cover art for the Sundays of August. The pastors are focusing on the Old Testament lectionary texts, working with the theme of "Restoration and Renewal." Once I created the first paper cut collage, the others came to me in quick succession. It was serious play!

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"Succulence"
Isaiah 51:1-6

PRESENCE

3 of 5 in my series of worship folder cover art for the Sundays of August. The pastors are focusing on the Old Testament lectionary texts, working with the theme of "Restoration and Renewal." Once I created the first paper cut collage, the others came to me in quick succession. It was serious play!

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"Presence"
Isaiah 56:1, 6-8

SILENCE

2 of 5 in my series of worship folder cover art for the Sundays of August. The pastors are focusing on the Old Testament lectionary texts, working with the theme of "Restoration and Renewal." Once I created the first paper cut collage, the others came to me in quick succession. It was serious play!

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"Silence"
1 Kings 19:9-18

ABUNDANCE

1 of 5 in my series of worship folder cover art for the Sundays of August. The pastors are focusing on the Old Testament lectionary texts, working with the theme of "Restoration and Renewal." Once I created the first paper cut collage, the others came to me in quick succession. It was serious play!

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"Abundance"
Isaiah 55:1-5

ROBE of LIBERATION

"Robe of Liberation," book binding twine, permanent marker, and Montana BLACK spray paint on cardboard. 

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A record of my rakusu journey.

I purchased the fabric to start making and sewing my rakusu. This is going to be a months-long project, but the first "baby" steps have been taken.

LINEAGE

"Lineage," art marker and signature stamp on Montana BLACK spray paint on found cardboard.

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As part of my Buddhist journey toward possibly receiving the bodhisattva precepts, I'm capturing it in art. (I'm required to capture it in writing.)

This is an abstract representation of the lineage chart of buddhas and ancestors, with me at the bottom. My Troy chop mark peeks out of the spray paint haze, indistinct, which I really like.

I think my Mom's Feast Day, and reflecting on my personal lineage, helped solidify concepts that were bouncing around in my head for some time.

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lineage— 

winding blood dragon 

Buddha moon

SANDY FEST 9

Today is the ninth anniversary of my Mother's death, her Feast Day. Or, as I like to call it, Sandy Fest.

For number 9, I didn't originally have any art planned, but then an Instagram post that appeared in my feed provided inspiration. Modeling clay meets headstone. Modeling clay meets stamp pad. Modeling clay meets notecard. Modeling clay gets squished back to how it started. Repeat.

"Swim Free 2026" uses a tulip from a grave marker to serve as an octopus.

Mom, may you continue to rest in peace, as well as in God's embrace.

GLOSS

I am studying the sixteen bodhisattva precepts.

In the program in which I'm enrolled, we have to write glosses on each of the precepts. "[P]ut your reflections into a gloss, usually a paragraph on each precept, though it can become a creative project, as well." So I created "dharma gates" to represent each of the precepts. 

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The Three Treasures are in blue. The Three Tenets (Pure Precepts) are in red. The Ten Mindfulness Practices are in yellow.

Marks-A-Lot permanent marker on Montana Black spray paint on cardboard. Japanese kanji on labels.

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Dharma gates are boundless; I vow to master them.

Dharmas are boundless; I vow to comprehend them.

Reality is boundless; I vow to perceive it.

 
The third of the four Bodhisattva/All-Embracing Vows, in three translations/expressions: (1) Sonoma Mountain Zen Center; (2) Kazuaki Tanahashi; (3) Upaya Zen Center.

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I don't regard my life
as insufficient.
Inside the brushwood gate
there is a moon;
there are flowers.
 
—the poet Ryōkan, translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi

PIERCE

"Pierce." Day Six of Inktober.

This is my favorite piece of Inktober 2025 so far.

A piercing stare. A piercing hand (in shuto).

WEAVE

"Weave." Day Two of Inktober.

I'm just having fun with art markers. I'm playing and trying to not take myself too serious.

UKIYO-E

I have enjoyed visiting the Echoes of the Floating World exhibit at the Tacoma Art Museum multiple times, discovering something new each time.

This time, I was intrigued by woodblock prints by Kawanabe Kyosai, especially the one featured above, in detail. The museum has this triptych of prints titled as Comic One Million Turns of the Rosary. A book of prints I own titles it Comic Infinite Prayers. (Po-tay-to, po-tah-to, the joys of translation.)

The piece is political, expressing world events of 1864, and I'm glad for commentary from the museum and my book or I would have no idea what was going on. It's beautiful and weird, in its own right, but having a cultural context helps to infuse the print with even more power.

DARUMA DOLL DUEL

From left to right: 

A = "Old Man of the Sea" by The Child.

B = "Daruma the Grouch" by Troy's Work Table.

C = "No Face" by The Child. 

D = "Bert-i-dharma" by Troy's Work Table.

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The Child and Troy's Work Table had a Daruma Doll Duel. The rules? Each participant had to create and two Daruma art pieces, one of which used a liter Coca-Cola bottle as a canvas, the other of which could be another bottle or can. Bottles and cans had a base coat of Montana Black Spray Paint, but any medium could be used. Participants had two weeks to work on pieces. They were then voted on by Instagram followers over a period of a week.

Troy's Work Table had his ass handed to him! The voting was ranked, so every voter had to vote for all four: first choice was awarded five points, second choice was awarded three points, third choice was awarded two points, and fourth choice was awarded one point. Points were tallied and compiled. The combined scores of The Child's two pieces were essentially double the combined scores of TWT's two pieces.

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In addition to acrylic paint, "Old Man and the Sea" includes a sculpted clay nose, eye sockets, and fish. Translucent white marbles were used for eyes. "Bert-i-dharma" includes papercut hands in two slightly different colors of yellow to provide a three-dimensional element. 

SWIM FREE 2025

"Swim Free (2025)." Acrylic on spray-painted Coke can.

On the eighth anniversary of my mother's Feast Day, I had no plans other than getting together with my family for dinner. But then a spark of inspiration hit a couple hours before we were to leave. So I painted an octopus on an aluminum can, using silicone brushes.

I left the can at the Bremerton Art Walls, where I've painted other "Swim Free" pieces on prior Feast Days.

Then it was time to enjoy the best pizza, Spiro's in Silverdale, and remember my mother in conversation.

LE SLEESTAK STEVE

Le Sleestak Steve, paper cut cardboard, paper cut copy paper, and Sharpie marker on copy paper, 2025.

An homage mashup to both Instagram shenanigan Le Poisson Steve and the zombie-like reptilian humanoids that inhabit Lost City in live-action kid's show Land of the Lost.

BLOSSOM

"'In the mountains' means the blossoming of the whole world."
—Dōgen

"Reality is reborn with every flower that blooms."
—Norman Fischer

"The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom."
—Isaiah 35:1

BE NOT AFRAID

"Be Not Afraid," papercut cardstock on copy paper.

A companion piece to "Annunciation," I think these beings to be "lesser" angels in the hierarchy of the heavens. Perhaps they are component parts of a seraph. Or perhaps a seraph is a composite being. I liked the notion of the wings and wheel being angelic creatures in their own right, so here they are.

ANNUNCIATION

"Annunciation," gel-printed papercut cardstock and aluminum foil on copy paper.

A six-winged seraph, but the wings flapping in a circle as though the wheel envisioned by Ezekiel. And covered in eyes, but what if the people who encountered these angels mistook an orifice, an aperture, for eyes because of the shape. What if, instead of eyes, they were glimpses into the great emptiness, the void, the Ground of Being? What if, instead of eyes, they were mouths eternally singing Hallelujah! and praising the Divine, proclaiming the glory of the Lord?

SWIM FREE 2024

Sandy Fest Seven, a day to honor my Mom's life on the anniversary of her death was an excellent day. Creating art. Time together. Pizza. A Coca-Cola toast. A couple of readings from The Little Book of Zen Healing. Open and honest conversations. A mini-film festival of home movies featuring my Mom. May she continue to rest in the embrace of God.

The art this year was a series of "best of" projects. We revisited things we enjoyed in the past.



Our first stop was at the Bremerton Art Walls to get another small "Swim Free" octopus painted onto the retaining wall, amongst all of the graffiti art.



Then it was off to The Father's house to create art with members of my family. I worked on Coke bottles for the second year in a row. Other than the one octopus bottle, I simply painted patterns on bottles. It was fantastic therapy. It was meditative and healing.