Monday, February 21, 2011

Deadlines...

Everytime I say I'll be back in a day or two with something, it never happens. Once a week at best seems to be all I can manage with blog posts - sometimes blogger is so slow I start and then give up. Today it seems to be behaving so here are the sketch book pages I wanted to share.


Drawings of a tea cosy I was given for xmas, the colours are brighter even than my acrylic sketch...I think I prefer the charcoal drawing though. Being part of the sketchbook challenge is keeping me inspired to keep drawing and playing. I've also been enjoying dropping by their blog, especially the interviews with artists.



It looks like being a busy couple of weeks I seem to have a few deadlines looming, most of them are optional things but I really want to have a go, I will maybe say more as I leap through the hoops!
Best wishes to all!!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Bus blues

Here's my effort for the big tent poetry, it didn't come so easy this week!

An antidote for the blues

On Monday
someone will flip the switch
the bus driver will be smiling,
passengers will embrace
like long lost friends
the security guy and the office worker
the chef and the shoplady
will clasp hands
and meet the other's eye.

Serene as a cruise ship
we will glide in and out
of bus stops
no one will have to run
no one will be left behind
and at the terminus
a round of applause
for the driver
a brass band playing and fireworks
for a safe trip on schedule.



I'll be back in the next day or two with more sketchbook pages.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

A Few Things Poetical...

On my wanderings around the internet I came across Big Tent Poetry, a poetry site that posts a prompt on Monday, then you can post your poem inspired by the prompt on Friday and over the weekend.
This week's prompt was a wordle (I'd never heard of this - it's a group of words) you could include one or as many of the words as you like in your poem - I think I managed to use about half:-

Skatepark

Not exactly fearless
but determined,
gripping the handle bars
poised at the lip of the ramp
alert to other riders
timing his launch
into the flow.

His scooter is
an aluminium blade
slicing the air, down the ramp
across the flat, left foot pumping hard
to make it up the slope
get air, rotate 180
maybe.

And repeat
until his shirt
is drenched with sweat
and the sky is darkening
storm clouds banking up
and we run
at the first drops.


For xmas I treated myself to a book of poetry by Adrienne Rich with essays and criticism. I think I'll be dipping into it all year, there's so much to get my teeth into! I was attracted to some of her poems I read in anthologies. I've been trying to work out what it is that hooked me, and I think it's the imagery, the way she describes things is striking and beautiful, also the feeling that there's a lot more going on in her poems, they're full of emotion which made me curious about the underlying themes or meanings - the essays are really helping with unravelling these. About being a woman, and a woman in relation to a man/men, and being a creative woman. I'll point you to - Storm Warnings, The Roof Walker, Diving Into the Wreck and Integrity, as a taster!! I think I'll be back to talk about these more another time!!...


The paintings in this post are the ones I did a week ago. Yesterday I did some monoprints which you can see on my flickr page, I also finished carving a wood-cut that's been on the go since September...hopefully I'll print that next week.

I hope you've had a productive week.
Best wishes xx