This morning, I was trying to take advantage of a rare astrological occurrence called Mercury-in-Cazimi, when Mercury is “in the heart of the Sun”.  The results of that artistic effort (trying to combine astrology and art practice is always interesting) are depicted here in the entry, the first bit of cross-over between my tai chi practice and my artistic practice. But of course, the time frame for doing this bit of artwork coincided with the time that I usually write this blog entry, so I’m a bit behind on the planning-and-development of my day.  I had to move up the time of my tai chi a little in order to get things done.

But it wasn’t necessary to rush.  It’s never necessary to rush. I took my time — horse stance, breathing, the wrist locks on the punches — so careful that my various joints started cracking, the first time in a while.  I feel  clean, in the sense of being washed and patted down with fluffy white towels, as a result of this morning’s practice. THat’s the way it usually is, too, if I don’t rush.

So don’t rush.

The side effects of not rushing, I think, are visible in this artwork.  Some of the elements around the edges — the four frames around the central window, for example — were rushed, and not thoroughly thought through ahead of time.  The central circle, with Mercury standing before the muscle man himself, the Sun, involved a bit more forethought and planning. While it’s hardly perfect, I think it turned out fairly well for a job that only had a 20-minute window for completion of the inking and coloration.

Liked it? Take a second to support Andrew on Patreon!