Barbara Close, with Textured Letters, Comes to Town

Waaay back in Spring of 2007, I picked up the new Somerset Studios Magazine and fell in love with the textured versal exemplars of Barbara Close.  I've looked at the article so many times and wanted to try it, but the old F-E-A-R demons kept telling me I needed to learn more, know more.....

No More.  I've just spent two wonderful days playing with my lettering artist friends (who are far more talented than I), and here is a little sample of our time together.  (The best thing about posting on a blog is you can't see the other artists'  work, so you can't compare, and now that I'm home, neither can I.)

I used my own hand marbled paper to cover the journal.  Inside are black accordion fold pages where I will glue my finished samples.  They are still a work in progress, and hopefully, you'll get to see some new ones soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

E. B. White poem The Spider Web

The Spider Web

The spider, dropping down from twig,
Unfolds a plan of her devising,
A thin premeditated rig
To use in rising.


And all that journey down through space,
In cool descent and loyal hearted,
She spins a ladder to the place
From where she started.


Thus I, gone forth as spiders do
In spider’s web a truth discerning,
Attach one silken thread to you
For my returning.

E.B. White  written as a love letter to his wife. 

Kindness, a Poem by Naomi Shihab Nye

April is National Poetry Month, and you all know how much I LOVE poetry.  So, here is one of my favorites.  May you be touched deep down in your soul, and show kindness to all you meet.

Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is
You must lose things,
Feel the future dissolve in a moment
Like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
What you counted and carefully saved,
All this must go so you know
How desolate the landscape can be
Between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
Thinking the bus will never stop,
The passengers eating maize and chicken
Will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
You must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
Lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
How he too was someone
Who journeyed through the night with plans
And the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
You must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
Catches the thread of all sorrows
And you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
Only kindness that ties your shoes
And sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
Only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
And then goes with you everywhere
Like a shadow or a friend.

Naomi Shihab-Nye

Zentangles for Third Grade @ Jeremy Ranch Elementary

 

Doodling is conducive to even the youngest children.   The owners of a creative preschool/art class/daycare center have been taking my Creative Meditation class, and found that zentangle activities really focus and calm the little ones.   They put out a large sheet of paper and let all the kids participate.   

Zentangles are non-fail projects which encourage even the most timid.   Here are our photos from Jeremy Ranch.   For these kids, I stepped away from the  tiny 3.5 inch squares of the traditional zentangle and gave them die cut shapes of their choosing.   LOVE IT !   We created a large group project where everyone got a space, and each child could make as many individual ones as an hour could hold.   You can see their intensity and focus.   ( I wore my zentangle shoes, of course.)

Happy Birthday to Jonas

Yesterday was Jonas's (Jonas' ?)  big 6 year old birthday.  He has replaced his fascination with dinosaurs to fish and aquariums.   We're going to the Sandy Aquarium for his birthday party.  I  think his interest was fueled by a trip to Mexico and their fabulous ocean zoo.   I broke out of my comfort zone and painted some fish on the tie dye.  I think he'll like it.

Wordles

(I need to apologize for adding the wrong hyper-link to the wordle reference.   I believe this is the correct one, so you could have a little fun typing in your poems or quotes.  So sorry.)

My friend, Kass, referenced a website called Wordle which is so much fun for word lovers. Give it a try. Here is my poem, titled Essential Moments. The great thing is, after you type in your poem, the program leaves out anything non-essential. Cool, huh?

I didn't put my own poem here because I think anything you write using the same words will be more valuable to you.   Your creativity is what counts.

Try writing some of your own, even if you just put in a list of your favorite words.  I think this could be the newer, smaller version of refrigerator poetry.  Just work from a list of words.   I think I'll do this activity with my Creative Meditation class.   Then I'll post their poems...with permission, of course.   Have some fun today.

O.K. Just Kidding

I have done something unpredictable, kinda. While trying to find a pair of shoes which were neither winter boots nor summer sandals, I sauntered past the keds, and there they were. With my trusty sharpie marker, I went to work. I think the life lesson metaphor is: some of the strokes are messy, some are irregular and wobbly, some are executed with a shaky hand, but viewed as a whole, the design works, and the wobbly, messy, irregular shaky ones get lost, and what is left is a work of art. My friend George said, "Wow, you turned a pair of $25. sneakers into a $500. piece of art." The third graders at Jeremy Ranch Elementary enjoyed them when I taught them zentangles last week, and yes, I did strongly suggest to them to ask their parents before coloring on their clothes...or to buy their shoes with their own money. (We've had experiences with third graders.)

AND, thanks to all who have commented. I still can't figure out how to comment back, even though I've enabled all comments on the dashboard. I do appreciate your positive feedback. Best wishes.....and Happy Feet.