Wordstorm is coming!!

Wordstorm is Darwin's literary festival, it takes place every 2 years, and is coming up fast, the second weekend of May. I can't wait!! To co-incide with the festival there is an exhibition at DVAA of work inspired by a poem by Michael Giacometti, an Alice Springs poet. It's a very landscape poem, and I've never been down to that part of the country, I was stumped for a while until I decided to work in fabric. For a while I thought this was going to be a sculptural wall piece, stuffed a bit like the mermaids, but it ended up stretched on a frame like a painting. The exhibition opens this friday. Next weekend (5th May) is the seabreeze festival, which is always wonderful. And the dry season seems to have arrived, I'm wearing a jumper!!!

A Little Something For Poetry Month

It's poetry month in America, or anywhere in the world if you're on the internet.

Last weekend I caught part of a radio programme (Poetica on Radio National) which was favourite love poems chosen by all kinds of different people. It set me wondering what is my favourite love poem? There was something half remembered about a tablecloth!! So I went rummaging through my poetry books and re-discovered this - On The Table by Andrew Motion (please do hop across for a minute and read it).

I like that it's about love after being together in a couple for a long time. I like the conversational voice in the first verse as if he's trying to justify going out and making the rash purchase of a loud patterned tablecloth. And I can completely relate to being so attached to a piece of clothing - to it symbolising something personal - I had a painting skirt at Uni, and even 25 years later I constantly find myself buying red paisley anything, to replace the one that is long gone long ago worn out.

I'd love to hear about your favourite poem, or if you've been doing anything for poetry month.

Walking and singing

Ooops haven't been here for a while, life has been hectic for a few weeks. One of those busy things I've been doing that I haven't mentionned is that I've joined a choir - since January. It has been sneaking into my artwork, my second painting for the Don Whyte exhibition is called After Choir.

After our weekly rehearsal, I come out past a garden of ornamental long grass and tiny finches cling to the stalks. I've written two haiku about it.

Under a full moon
finches sleeping and swaying
on stalks of long grass.

Even though I know
to expect them, every week
the finches are a gift.

The woman in this painting doesn't look like me, but vaguely like one of the altos!

My sketchbook page from last time also has a link to choir. I've had some of the music we've been learning loaded on my I-pod. The drawing is of the moment when some of the music clicked for me, when I sent from learning the music to loving it, when I saw the tree like an upturned boat and burst into song as an Indian couple came round the corner!! (which reminds me of long ago living in London I used to listen to my Walkman and sing out loud late at night to scare off possible muggers!)

I came across this lovely post at Tinnie Girl blog about following your heart/your dream. Sometimes it's hard to identify what it is you need - I hadn't been in a choir for 25 years!!! I didn't realise how much I was missing music - lucky I've been feeling bored and thrashing around trying different things, and lucky the choir I stumbled on is the most welcoming.

Hope you've had a relaxing long weekend. Happy Easter.