Category: Creative Flow - Everyday Art Every Day

My Most Resent Art Fixation

1/13/2023

NEUROGRAPHIC ART* Super calming and by far the coolest thing I've learned in a while... and, I learned a lot of cool stuff about octopuses today, but that's a whole other blog post (maybe, if I remember to do one). As a substitute teacher, I have a gig teaching art to middle schoolers for a couple of weeks. I was left this amazing lesson on Neurographic Art, which has both calmed my soul and pushed my art practice forward...

* So, I could work real hard to find my sources and post the slide show that the teacher I covered for sent me, but then I would never post this blog and I would get all hung up on all that other stuff when I really just want to share the art. And I also cannot figure out hashtags but I really just want to post and not worry about that. So, whatever. Just Google "neurograpahic art" to be as inspired as I was!

Then I decided to apply it to an old artwork left abandoned. And I think it has been sufficiently resuscitated.

Thank goodness for ART:)

Starting NaPoWriMo 2022…

4/2/2022

A day before and going strong… and then...
we’re back to 2 days behind😊

I’m always excited by the idea of and anticipation for NaPoWriMo, but the reality is such that

life happens
to get in the way
and I have no time
to write what I want to say

I've come up with a couple options that incorporate poetry each day for 30 days:

WORDLE as a poetry prompt – for 30 days à wordle in the AM; do a poem
Work on poetry course
Poetry Group Business

March 31st…
I’ve decided to try Wordle for the first time… but I will use the word as a poetry prompt for #NaPoWriMo2022.

So, on the last day of March, the eve of National/Global Poetry Writing Month, I have written a poem:

Lowly ol’ me
couldn’t get thee.
Oh, Wordle! You see –
I’m no longer free!

Also, there is a bit of talk about Emily Dickinson on the NaPoWriMo site…

An early-bird prompt, based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Dickinson is known for her elliptical style, unusual word choices, and mordant sense of humor. Over the past year, I’ve experimented with writing poems based on, or responding to, various lines from her poems. Today, I’d like to challenge you to do the same! Here are a few lines of Dickinson’s that might appeal to you (the slashes indicate line breaks):

From the official website:
NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April.
This website is owned and operated by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC. Inspired by NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month), she started writing a poem a day for the month of April back in 2003, posting the poems on her blog. When other people started writing poems for April, and posting them on their own blogs, Maureen linked to them. After a few years, so many people were doing NaPoWriMo that Maureen decided to launch an independent website for the project.
This site was designed by the very nice people at 2the9design, who know waaaaayyyyy more about back-end coding stuff than Maureen does. But this site isn’t meant to be “official,” or to indicate ownership or authority over the idea of writing 30 poems in April. There is no corporate sponsorship of this project. No money is intended to change hands anywhere. Maureen just likes poems and wants to encourage people to write them. The site doesn’t ask for your email address, or any other personal information. Heck, you don’t even have to give your name.
Need more information? See the Wikipedia entry for NaPoWriMo, or check out our FAQ!
https://www.napowrimo.net/about/

At the start of Pandemic Times, I started watching “Dickinson” on AppleTV… and was inspired to delve deeper…. I read poems watched the series and was inspired to write this poem after seeing this random picture...

SHE & ME
(Honouring Emily Dickinson)

Notions niggle and needle at the edges
of restlessness — nibbling.
She, in her white gown, gazing out,
absently rubbing the silky-smooth surface
of her newest stone
that only earlier she’d seen surfaced
amongst the sprouts,
sparkling in the sunlight --
beckoning like her words,
trickling and dripping down,
tickling the paper,
shiny as the diamonds that dot
the midnight skies.

Truly awake now, she relents.
The poem gushes forth, flowing
from her soul made of stars --
And of dirt from the Earth and
of all the spirits that stir in the night.
There was no rest for the poet —
Until she closed her eyes for good.

** Published in 2 poetry publications, some time in the last 2 years (Tower Poetry Society and The Ontario Poetry Society - but I suck at record-keeping, remembering stuff, and finding stuff, so ...)

Happy Poetry Writing Month!

Some of my first creative endeavours...

11/28/2020

I found a journal from way before... talk about a time machine!

NAPOWRIMO2020 - Poem 22 - EarthDay Theme

4/30/2020

one

one sun
many moons
one love
many tombs
one earth
many rooms
many fumes
few blooms
many ruins
go boom
with doom
now gloom
it looms
fill the saloons
escape tycoons
big goons
human hoodlum unions
loosen delusions
or grow illusions

as we consume
do not assume

hope
floats
like 99 bloated red balloons
going by
before they deflate
as laws dictate
it’s innate
relate, mate ?

one faith
would be great
too late
many fates
many hates

one earth
one sun
one love

one hope

(March 8, 2019)

NAPOWRIMO2020 - Poem 12, Triolet

4/19/2020

Rules of the Triolet Form...
The requirements of this fixed form are straightforward: the first line is repeated in the fourth and seventh lines; the second line is repeated in the final line; and only the first two end-words are used to complete the tight rhyme scheme. Thus, the poet writes only five original lines, giving the triolet a deceptively simple appearance: ABaAabAB, where capital letters indicate repeated lines.

I can see your light
From your pit of hell
Don’t give up your fight
I can still see your light
Can’t wait for no knight
I know how far you fell
But I can still see your light
From your pit of hell

(April 17, 2020)

NAPOWRIMO2020 - Poem 10

4/19/2020

2 hay (na) ku sonnets, based on certain song titles downloaded to my iPhone iTunes...

Advice from A - L for Troubled Times

Life
Is closed
Living is not

Awake
At last
Beds are burning

Cold
Dead heart
Long hard road

Intolerance
and hurt
Float on by

Walk the line
At world’s end

Enjoy
the silence
Of dearly departed

Insane
Jungle boogie
In the brain

Just
can’t get
enough karma police

Killing
in name
of King Lionheart

Cracked
but not
Broken in pieces

Kingdom of rust
Living on Prayers

NAPOWRIMO Day 2

4/2/2019

It’s coming! NAPOWRIMO is coming!!!

3/29/2019

I’ve registered for the napowrimo site and am super excited, in theory. In truth, I get anxious because I am supposed to write poetry and then I share it on my website which requires tech savvy... so I apologize in advance if I get overwhelmed and under-poemed;)

Ps. What blog service do you use that is super easy-peas??

NAnxiETRY (#NaPoWriMo Day 1)

3/29/2019

gearing up for NAPOWRIMO
if only there were a poetry depot
I’m excited but also terrified
from the expectations specified
I’ve psyched myself out
and now I’m in a drought

What do I do?
I fret and I stew
for its when I must
that I go bust
I resist and revolt
I need a lightening bolt

but I must write poetry in April
perhaps I should be grateful
I have words to share
and then
and poetry swoops in to save the day

there was a bit of brilliancy, there,
for
a
moment...
but it’s over now

From my Sketchbooks...

1/18/2019

Teaching Art from the Heart and Soul