IT'S COMING BACK TO ME

I know. I've been away from my blog and my art for far too long. But in the humid summer breeze I can feel my muse floating like a saviour and coming closer to me. Her breath is hot and moist and it stirs the muscles of my imagination. It creeps up my arm nudging me back to poetry and art. My fingers tremble at the edge of my watercolor pans and the feel of the slender paintbrush. I have an urge to go back to creating art journal pages, to combining words and images, paint and paper and glue, until my emotions and thoughts unfurl on the page in swirls of color.

I've been taking some online poetry classes and they have exposed me to new poets and new writing styles. I've been trying out new topics, language, and lines for my poems. The challenge these classes offer are fun and help me grow as a writer. And now I want to add color and texture to the words that dance out of my pens. I need to focus on poetry and leave prose behind for a while.

I think an art journal challenge is in the making! I have to decide on materials and frequency of postings so I challenge myself to create and yet not fail to complete the challenge. Perhaps 3 a week would work for a month. I have to ponder the possibilities and see what is challenging yet doable.

I'll get back to you on that!

Tanka Challenge Day Twenty-three

Tanka Challenge Day Twenty-two

Tanka Challenge Day Twenty-One

Tanka Challenge Day Twenty

Tanka Challenge Day Nineteen

Tanka Challenge Day Eighteen

Tanka Challenge Day Seventeen

Tanka Challenge Day Sixteen

This challenge is a true challenge. Every once in a while I feel like giving up. But when I go to my art table and begin to prepare the canvas, swirling color and texture and adding words, the process takes over. I fall into the ocean of creativity, its waves gently rocking me into a peaceful place. I feel free. I feel authentic. I am doing what I love to do. It just takes that leap of faith to go to the table and write or paint to get me where I need to be physically and spiritually.

Tanka Challenge Day Fifteen

Tanka Challenge Day Fourteen

Tanka Challenge Day Thirteen

Not many people showing up to the blog or commenting. It's getting frustrating. I may stop posting daily if I don't get more responses. Just saying

Tanka Challenge Day Twelve

Oops--I missed yesterday because I was painting the living room, but I did not miss a day of art and poetry. So I posted the two day's worth today. Enjoy!

Tanka Challenge Day Eleven

Tanka Challenge Day Ten

Tanka Challenge Day Nine

Taking on this challenge sometimes feels a bit overwhelming and I wonder what could I have been thinking. But it encourages me to carry through on creative commitments I make to myself. It pushes me not only to write at least one new poem a day but to hone the poems so they are worthy of being exposed to the world. And it pushes me to find more and more creative ways to express myself in paper and paint. Hard as it may be at times, I'm glad I did this. I like the challenge. I should do this to myself more often.

Tanka Challenge Day Eight

Tanka Challenge Day Seven

Tanka Challenge Day Six

Lesson to be learned. Do not print poem on white tissue paper when attaching to a darker background. There's a reason tissue paper comes in many colors --one of them is to match gift bags and cards the other to assist artists in making the art come out right. But you have to think ahead and choose the right color. Attention to detail needs to be added to my intuitive artistic process.

Tanka Challenge Day Five

Tanka Challenge Day Four

Once I set myself a challenge I am committed to following through. This is a tough one. The tanka come easily but the art takes time. Each night I have to prepare a new canvas for the next day's post. It's work and play at the same time. But as the paint spreads and the colors blend and images work their way into the piece I feel tension drain, my muscles relax, and my head is free of worry and stress. So here's to art.

A tanka that came to me as I drove to work this morning. No art for this one yet.

golden sky
yellow blossoms
honeyed horizon
hope and joy
in this new day

Tanka Challenge Day Three

Tanka Challenge Day Two

Tanka Challenge Day One

TANKA CHALLENGE

Wow! It's been so long since I posted on this blog. I have been busy working on my novel and writing short stories so I have had little time for anything art related. But now I have a way to get back here and keep my loyal readers entertained and I hope pleased. April is National Poetry Month and in honor of that I have given myself a challenge. I am going to post a poem and art piece every day for the month of April. Since I am presently taking an online class from Lorraine Mejia-Green in Japanese poetic forms I am going to make my April poems in the five line form of tanka. I love the lyric form and it blends quite well with mixed media art.

If I am up for it I hope to keep this challenge going and make each month a different poetic form. This will keep me engaged in both art and writing and challenge me to improve my poetry writing craft. Right now I am off to complete the first piece so I can post it in time for April 1st.

Happy National Poetry Month to you all!

DOODLING

I have just discovered the wonderful process of doodling. Creating a tangle of lines, idly moving the pen across the toothy surface of a painted page, is like meditating. I remove myself from the world and enter the trance and pleasure of my heart and soul. I can see I will be doodling a lot on my art journal pages from now on and adding my poetry to the process. Here is what I wrote on this particular page:

Life unfurls her beauty,
creating a path
for you to follow
if only you will heed her call
to step into the wonder of it all
and create your days as if
in a land where dreams live.
Plant your roots
and ideas will sprout
as you blossom
into your authentic self.

A NEW YEAR



against blue sky
red leaves
vibrant and alive
a color I've looked for
all of my life

It's a new year. 2012. What does this year bring for me? I see art and poetry in this year, more than last year. I see more writing than before. My writing muscles seem to have atrophied and I have to bring them back by writing flash fiction, poems and journaling.I want a year in which there is calm and solitude, more forays into nature and more time to be authentically myself.  This means taking time in the morning and at night to read poetry, write and meditate. It means me, being me, no matter what challenges I face at work all day. I must preserve that time and those activities to keep me sane. And part of it means posting more consistently on this blog.

I almost started a new blog to honor my commitment to writing flash fiction, but why add to my obligations. I'll wait until I'm ready for that. For now, I hope to be here more often and hear from more of you.

Please also share your art and poetry with me.