January & February 2025 have had a constant parade of planets in the night sky. The Dark Sky at the farm enhances the stars and planets when the clouds stand down and let them shine. One of the special features of living on the coast is the lack of nighttime lighting, allowing the spectacular sky to shine through.

Learning about the moon

Mystical, astrological, and astronomical describe all aspects of the moon.

Two full moons in a month are Blue and when the moon comes extremely close to the Earth, it is a Super Moon. I loved my first Blue Blood Super Moon!

Learning more as I surround myself with moon art, this month’s March moon has an eclipse and is referred to as a Blood Worm Moon. But when March comes to Big River Farm, it’s not the emergence of worms that signals the change in seasons. I am thrilled when I see the first Trilliums along the pathways and roads.

Blood Moon Memory - Made with Handmade paper

I decided to begin to change my moon series into local phenomena, starting with March, which I now consider a Trillium Moon. As the moon cycles throughout the year, some months bring a different significant event. My first series, 12 Moons, included the first Blood Moon for October. This year, there is a Blood Moon in March. I will be back in my studio at the Butsu this month, printing a Blood Trillium Moon, to add to the collection.

Trillium flower with green fern and redwood stum in the forest. — Trillium blooming in the forest

The first Trilliums of spring at the MendoZendo have been a theme of much of my art, from watercolors to woodcuts to reduction linocuts. You cannot pick a trillium- it is a delicate, ephemeral native flower that grows only in the wild, and part of our many natural gifts that we celebrate at Big River Farm.

My very first woodblock print was a Trillium. Bob Rhoades, who taught a Printmaking intro class at the then College of the Redwoods, introduced the western method of woodblock printing using inks & a press. My first woodblock was a reduction print of a Trillium, which were blooming at the time. I must have learned the art of woodblock printing in March.

Trillium Moon is a reduction linoleum cut, using the same method as the woodcut but “pulling” the prints by hand, using a tool called a “baren”, which I learned in my linocut classes from Nick Collins at the Mendocino Art Center. When the last print is pulled, the series is done, and the edition is very limited. Trillium Moon is an edition of 6.

#1 source layout

#2 sketch

#3sketch

#4 yellow

# 5 blue (green)

#6 red

#7 with the lino block

#8 final, unmatted

Process layers of the Trillium piece

Mindful Moment #5

Learning about the moon

Mindful Moment #4