Studio Mothers: Life & Art » poetry

Miranda: Art Every Day Month ~ Day 16

Miranda — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:05:08 +0000

Day 16 of Art Every Day Month (AEDM). Another poem in my series, although I paired this one with a photograph.

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Miranda: Art Every Day Month ~ Day 14

Miranda — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:58:47 +0000

Day 14 of Art Every Day Month (AEDM): Ink and watercolor doodle. Fairly self-explanatory, this one.

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Miranda: Art Every Day Month ~ Day 11

Miranda — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 03:00:22 +0000

Day 11 of Art Every Day Month (AEDM): I had the pleasure of attending a Random Art Workshop (RAW) hosted by the lovely Mindy Tsonas of WishStudio in Newburyport, Mass. My cohort at the Minerva Project, Ellen Olson-Brown, came along for the fun. (Check out Ellen’s fabulous AEDM mini-book projects here!)

I played with a bunch of things at the RAW evening — stepping away from my poem collage series for a bit — including the watercolor sketch below.

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Miranda: Art Every Day Month ~ Day 8

Miranda — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 03:07:13 +0000

Day 8 of Art Every Day Month (AEDM). I have a few more poems bubbling up right now, so I’ll use the brief amount of time that I have to keep drafting — and will come back to the collage work in a bit. This poem is still very much a work in progress, so it might be quite different by the time I get to my collage.

203 New York

The United Nations concourse is closed
to the public and filled with live music.
Waiters in white jackets move across
highly polished marble, attending to
elaborate tables draped with partygoers
and champagne glasses.

An irresistible standard pulls my father
onto the dance floor beside me.
I cannot mask the glee, the visceral joy of
dancing with my father
a million miles from anywhere
at the center of everything
in borrowed clothes and onyx earrings.
I have never danced with my father before.

We are so full of grinning and laughter that
it’s almost too hard to dance.

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I’m posting my Art Every Day Month work here on a daily or near-daily basis. If you’d like to join in the fun, it’s not too late! Here’s all the info. And if you don’t have your own blog, you’re welcome to post your AEDM work here. Just comment on this post to let me know.

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Miranda: Art Every Day Month ~ Day 7

Miranda — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:32:20 +0000

Day 7 of Art Every Day Month (AEDM). Today I drafted a poem, but I’m not yet sure which visual I’m going to connect it to for the next collage in my series — TBD.

I’m posting my AEDM work here on a daily or near-daily basis. If you’d like to join in the fun, it’s not too late! Here’s all the info. And if you don’t have your own blog, you’re welcome to post your AEDM work here. Just comment on this post to let me know.

626 River

A timeworn, sturdy pilot boat
moored on the Thames
is my first home.

This floating cradle
wraps me in the lasting perfumes
of my brave new world:
freshly ground coffee, diesel, and
my father’s leather jacket, soft and smooth.

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Miranda: Art Every Day Month ~ Day 5

Miranda — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 01:00:52 +0000

Day 5 of Art Every Day Month (AEDM), and I actually have a “finished” piece in hand, the first in the series I’m working on this month. It’s hard for me to say that a poem is “done” after only a few days of working on it, and it’s quite possible that I’ll ultimately end up re-doing the entire collage in order to revise the poem, but such is the nature of work in progress.

I like how the Instagram filter makes the gobo image pop — which was what I had in mind. But with the Instagram square I can’t present the piece in its actual format (a rectangle in landscape orientation — see second image below). These pieces will make use of a lot of black space. The plan is create an entire collection of these gobo poems and bind them into a book. (Rebecca, I’ll be relying on your help when the time comes!)

AEDM Day 5: A closeup of the final "305. Eiffel Tower"

AEDM Day 5: The final "305. Eiffel Tower" (not very well photographed -- there is more of a border on the bottom edge than shows here -- and it's not trapezoidal in real life!)

Miranda: Art Every Day Month ~ Day 4

Miranda — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:15:59 +0000

For day 4 of Art Every Day Month (AEDM), I practiced hand lettering my poem for the first collage. I liked the idea of having hand lettering in the final piece, but I wasn’t happy with how the writing came out. Shortly after a few experiments like the one pictured below, I decided that I would use Ye Olde Trusty Laser Printer instead.

AEDM Day 4: Hand lettering my poem; not liking the results

Miranda: Art Every Day Month ~ Day 3

Miranda — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:00:25 +0000

For day 3 of Art Every Day Month (AEDM), I drafted the first poem for my series and began assembling collage elements. I forgot how much I love working on a poem: thinking, writing, sitting back, re-working, sitting back, looking again…

AEDM Day 3: Writing, rewriting, and assembling

Miranda: Art Every Day Month ~ Day 2

Miranda — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:28:24 +0000

For day 2 of Art Every Day Month (AEDM), I experimented with different enlargement sizes for some of the images I’m going to use in my collage series. I’m looking forward to getting into the art room with a stack of options.

I’ll be posting my AEDM work here on a daily or near-daily basis. If you’d like to join in the fun, it’s not too late! Here’s all the info. And if you don’t have your own blog, you’re welcome to post your AEDM work here. Just comment on this post to let me know.

: AEDM Day 2: Cutting, copying, enlarging, playing

Miranda: Art Every Day Month ~ Day 1

Miranda — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:14:38 +0000

I’m playing catch-up here, as I’ve been without power since Saturday — but I’ve been chipping away at my daily practice for Art Every Day Month (AEDM). I had picked a particular project to work on for AEDM, and it feels great to finally get started after thinking about this project for so long. It’s a poetry/collage collection on a particular topic (more specifics later).

On day one (November 1, which was Tuesday), I took advantage of power from our borrowed generator (thanks, Ellen!) to brainstorm a list of memories for my collection. I’ll be posting my AEDM work here on a daily or near-daily basis. If you’d like to join in the fun, it’s not too late! Here’s all the info. And if you don’t have your own blog, you’re welcome to post your AEDM work here. Just comment on this post to let me know.

: AEDM Day 1: Thinking, list making

Miranda (and Brittany): If these walls could talk….

Miranda — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 02:29:56 +0000

Last month the lovely Brittany Vandeputte and her husband Tom stopped in for a visit on their way from Salem, Massachusetts, back home to the vicinity of Albany, New York.

Before she left, Brittany wrote all over my wall. Not a display of bad manners, mind you — I asked her to do it. Some of you may remember my half-bath makeover that included a wall of blank “frames.” This wall is a pretty happening place, I have to say. Here, with her permission, is the poetry that Brittany left behind. (Click on the image for a larger view if needed. The frame that Brittany chose was tucked beside the wall cabinet, so I was unable to get a straight-on shot.)

Yeah. I thought you’d like that.

Debra Bellon: Star

Miranda — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:00:04 +0000

Debra Bellon’s ongoing poetry blog, No Haikus, is a treat. Excellent way to re-fill your own well. Here is a recent gem:

Star

Another long mile. You breathe;
the air is full of dust, the moon
achingly round.
All the words that once seemed important
are now gone, like the bitter
November leaves.
You yearn for the faraway light
of the nameless star
flickering in the dark sky,
both inviting
and devastatingly vast

Thanks for permission to re-post at Studio Mothers, Debra. More, more, more!