Art is Messy–dVerse Poetics

Artist, Chester Arnold, in his Studio

This poem is about a problem–my problem. My office, writing space, is also my would-be art studio. And here’s the problem. I’m a perfectionist (borderline OCD?) and can’t write in a chaotic environment. I long to paint, but can’t endure the mess.

Today for dVerse Poetics, Grace prompts us to write to the amazing photographic display/art of Emily Blincoe. Her arrangements appeal to me for their organization, color, implied texture and pattern. In response, I share with you my (not-too-poetic) dilemma.

Art is Messy

I uncap each tube,
inhale deeply, feeling creativity
seep into my body
through the sense of smell.

Lay them out, then,
one-by-one,
color wheel-like:
red-orange-yellow
green-blue-purple
and all the shades
in-between.

S-t-r-e-t-c-h
that canvas
tight, tight-tighter yet.
Sort brushes
by number.
Drop cloth, easel,
light source.

Perfect.

Uncap tube.
Inhale emptiness.

Thank you, Emily, for sharing your beautiful work.

Photo: Emily Blincoe

 

 

Canvas

Image by ~jjjohn~ via Flickr

Canvas

A stretch of white.
You scrape a knife
through black, then indigo,
layer darkness,
across the horizon.
Reach for a tube of
chestnut brown,
squeeze the contents
onto the lower half
and smear.
Payne’s grey sky.
A slash of crimson,
a miniscule orb
in orange.

Submitted to dVerse Poet’s Pub where, for the first prompt, we are asked to build something. Well, I’m not at all handy so I thought I’d build you a painting to hang behind the bar. It will be a bit abstract but if it seems a bit dark, I intend to infuse with a lot of hope!

Check out this exciting new poetry community at http://dversepoets.com/

Watercolor–One Shot Wednesday

Image via Wikipedia

Watercolor

I chose Payne’s Gray
instead of black.
It’s not quite death—
more like a nightlight
in the next room.

 

Submitted to One Shot Wednesday at One Stop Poetry: http://onestoppoetry.com

Monday Morning Writing Prompt–the Artist in You

Image: Kindness of Anna Cervova

One of the things that I marvel at during this time of the year is the abundance of color that adorns nature. Summer makes me want to grab my paints and portable easel and drag myself out into nature to capture the moment. It seems I rarely do, perhaps because of inconvenience or downright laziness, but I often pull out my palette of words and pen down some colorful poetry.

For today’s prompt, I’d like to you put on the mind, if not the smock of an artist and paint a word picture, lavishing color, shape, perspective, texture, mood–whatever artistic tool speaks to you.

Please link your masterpiece in the comment section of this blog and remember, I don’t believe in deadlines for these prompts, so do it whenever you can and have fun with it. And if you are a visual artist and care to share your work, have at it!

You may have already seen this poem…I think I posted it a while back:

The State of Color 

When blue ripped a hole

in gray clouds,

the trumpet vine blared

blasts of yellow

and orange poppies

from the Orient

stretched wide

thirsty maws,

to consume rainbows

of dew.

 

Jingle’s Poetry Rally–“Hope”

Hope

A stretch of white.
You scrape a knife
through black, then indigo,
layer darkness,
across the horizon.
Reach for a tube of
chestnut brown,
squeeze the contents
onto the lower half
and smear.
Payne’s grey sky.
A slash of crimson,
a miniscule orb
in orange.

This post is for Jingle’s Poetry Rally, Week 28.