Elements

Horizon of air
this point where sky meets earth
sun of glowing fire

Day ending with fire
clouds dancing in light and air
shade darkening earth

Wind sails around earth
reflected through rays of fire
that swallow the air

Through spiraling air the rotating earth encircling the fire

A tritina for Sue Vincent’s photo prompt, above.  I was taken by the interaction of air, earth, and fire.

Artwork is a monoprint.

Drawing Table

everything
has to be somewhere–
(organized
to surprise)–
chance determines connections
that cross mind to hand

Jane Dougherty’s prompt to photo and versify our workspaces offered a good opportunity for me to think about the way I work.

 

Kill the Buddha 1 and 2

I went to the storage room the other day to look for and photo some old collages and finally decided to look in the portfolio I knew had some very old work in it.  99% of the contents consists of collages, but there were a few drawings and paintings, and this was one of them.  1983, yikes.  That was about the end of my art work (except for the knit designing I did) for many years as my oldest daughter was born in 1985.

On the Road has published a provocative prompt (and unfortunately the last one) this week, based on the Zen Koan  “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.”  Of course I had to consult the Magnetic Oracle.

remember to dance
like ghosts laughing in rhythm
with vast foolishness

I also wrote my own interpretation of the prompt, based on my painting, which is titled “Web 1”.  Although I did not find a “Web 2”.

the net is fragile–
disintegrating, holding
what was never there

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Kerfe sent me some great shots of this bridge (she knows how much I love bridges). I picked this one to do first. Very difficult perspective–I will have to try this one again. I printed these at work in black and white and fudged the bay and sky colors. 

Kerfe’s shots. You can see what I mean about the perspective in the bottom picture. 

Buddy breathing

I was discussing swimming pools and memories with our friend Claudia McGill and remembered when my Dad used to sit at the bottom of the pool with his scuba tank. All the kids would dive down and he’d hand them the breathing thing; we would hang out down there and take turns buddy breathing. I hadn’t thought of this in a long time. This is just a prelimary sketch and I’m going to paint it.  Claudia said early memories are the strongest. I’m going to have to think of more memories that I can translate into visual ones.  Maybe a series?

(where it began)

The flood brings a rainbow
focused in feathers of thought–
fear waits in holding pattern between hands

Water comes, water goes–
energy will dive or float
or dissipate in waves upon the sand

Balance shifts uneasy–
now the steps of down return
rising like pathways finding mountained land

What is seen and not seen–
what is traversed and unlearned–
the finish line looms huge

(where it began)

Inspired by The Secret Keeper’s Writing Prompt #99
| EASY | FLOOD | THOUGHT | FEAR | HUGE |

 

The Story of Moses

Our friend Claudia McGill was curious about how we got our dog Moses. Here is a little cartoon and here is the story that goes with it:

One night our babysitter Jiffy came to the door carrying a box with two adorable puppies. At the time we had our Golden Retriever Samantha. We wanted to take both puppies but husband said no. There was a male and a female–we took the male. We named him Moses (found in the bullrushes). 

As he grew up we wondered about his origins as he looked like a coyote. DNA testing wasn’t readily available as it is now so we will never know. He was a good dog and lived about ten years or something like that. 

Here is a photo of Samantha with Moses in the background as well as a much younger me. 

Mask

In the intersection between
earth and air—in the space between
coming and going, was and to be—

The other side is inverted
consumed created inserted—
energy takes form—threshold, key–

Opposites crushed in collusion–
time transfigured by illusion—
door opening to nobody.

Sue Vincent’s photo prompt, above, was the inspiration for my poem and art.  I painted the fire, then cut it into squares, rearranged it, and stitched it together.  The poetry form is nove otto.

I don’t know why, but this photo reminded me of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.  Is that his hat burning…?

 

 

 

Moses and Cleo

An oldie from 2006. Both of these dogs are gone now. They were sitting under my copper beech tree and I painted them for posterity. They were good dogs, especially Moe who was found in a park one winter night. 

Abstract Monday

Playing around with paint is always fun. I just start putting down color and see where it takes me.