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Sunday, April 29, 2012

Shape and Motion


This painting was inspired by a beautiful poem that I came across this week:

Shape and Motion One
by Martin Carter

I was wondering if I could shape this passion 
just as I wanted in solid fire.
I was wondering if the strange combustion
of my days
the tension of the world inside of me
and the strength of my heart were enough.

I was wondering if I could stand as tall
while the tide of the sea rose and fell.
If the sky would recede as I went
or the earth would emerge as I came
to the door of the morning locked against 
the sun.

I was wondering if I could make myself
nothing but fire, pure and incorruptible.

If the wound of the wind on my face
would be healed by the work of my life
or the growth of the pain in my sleep
would be stopped in the strife of my days.

I was wondering if the agony of years
could be traced to the seed of an hour.
If the roots that spread out in the swamp
ran too deep for the issuing flower.

I was wondering if I could find myself
all that I am in all I could be.
If all the population of stars 
would be less than the things I could utter
And the challenge of space in my soul
be filled by the shape I become.

I'm a little late but I'm sharing this with Paint Party Friday.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Friday, April 13, 2012

Hide and Seek


It was the day we laughed so hard
we made the irises bloom

I was five
it was cool

we were running like cats
a game of hide and seek
happiness all balled up in our hands
shooting out of us in shrieks and bellows

I'm a tiger
she declared

and I decided I was too

a fearless tiger
with nothing to do 
but chase the wind

they say it whips you in the face
but this isn't how it works
if you run hard enough
the wind bores right into you

I don't remember anything else
except the smell of the ocean
sweet as ice cream

the wind carried the rest away.

Instapoem by bentlilly.

I have two versions of this painting. The original is posted below. I like this version (with a digital filter added) better. It's still a work in progress. I've started this painting and gesso'd over it three times now so it may end up back in the gesso pile. ;-) Here it is in the raw state (no filters):


Meh...

The poem was my inspiration, though. If you've been following my site at all you know how much poetry and music inspire my art. I stumbled upon the bentlily site through Susannah Conway's website. She's awesome in her own right as inspiration through her photography, courses, etc.  She mentioned the bentlily site on one of her posts so I had to check it out. You create your own instant poems by filling in some prompts. This was the poem from the introductory prompts. Check out the site; it's pretty cool. I've also signed up to receive the daily poem. ;-) 

I'm offering this for Paint Party Friday. Have a great weekend everybody! 

Monday, April 9, 2012

Hold On


This is a journal page I worked on today. So many things going on right now that I wanted to take a minute, take a deep breath and regroup. Funny how things happen...

I subscribe to Trendland (love it). One of the features they send in their daily posts is usually a music clip. Yesterday (or thereabouts) they sent a free download for music by this group, Alabama Shakes. I've been playing this song and their entire CD, Boys & Girls, on my iPod ever since. LOVE this group! This song, Hold On, inspired the journal page. This woman can sing!



So, just when I needed something to help me hold on... this song comes to me. How cool is that? ;-) Have a great week everybody!

Friday, April 6, 2012

Warhol: Deconstructed


Here is the second encaustic painting in my Deconstructed series. You can tell by the title of the post who the image is: Andy Warhol, one of my favorite artists! Here is the image I transferred onto fabric and began with:


Then I started the screen printing process. I did so many rounds of screen prints and ended up with a ton of different images on fabric to work with. I had originally planned on making an art quilt with these squares. I have so many to choose from that I may still do that with some that are left over. Here are the fabric squares I've chosen to make encaustic paintings with. I've laid the squares out side by side to show the progression of the screen print as the image deconstructed through the process. So cool!  Yes, I changed fabric through the process. Plus, these are my favorite images through a couple of different runs. ;-)


These are 8" x 8" squares and fit perfectly onto the deep wood panels I have. So far I've only done the two with encaustic but I love the finished look of them. Here is a side view of one of the paintings hanging on the wall:


Once I get each square embedded in encaustic, I'll arrange each wood panel on the wall. They will be arranged similar to the way they are laid out in the above photo but I will probably will have more in each row. I will post a photo when the series is completed and on the wall.

This is my Paint Party Friday entry. Check out what everybody else is up to today. Last I checked there are nearly 70 entries! Should be lots of eye candy waiting.

Monday, April 2, 2012

In Loving Memory


Phyllis C. Storer
April 2, 1940 - April 4, 2004

Happy Birthday, Mom. I miss you so much!

I also would like to send out much love to my baby sis who is recovering from a stroke. Love you, Paula!!