The change of seasons always makes me notice my surroundings differently. Today I wrote a few lines of poetry with a few simple rules: stay in the present tense, omit prepositions and write what I see. I challenge you to submit a few entries right here in the comments section!
Here's what I came up with:
Easter Breeze
Feather whisper cotton clouds.
Dreadlock flowers drench bare trees.
Settle spring bring weather ease.
A bientot.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Pay it Forward
I had the most extraordinary thing happen to me. After a long day of running around in the spring weather, I drove 40 minutes out of my way to a specialty store and realized I forgot my wallet. So I asked the clerk at customer service if they would take a credit card number over the phone. She said no. I understood. I was ready to move on when, to my amazement, a complete stranger opened up her wallet and asked me how much money I needed. I couldn’t even register her words. I sort of stood there dumb founded. I was floored by her generosity. She handed me $80, we exchanged addresses and she left me saying this:
PS: And if you are wondering if I paid her back, well, of course I did!
I still feel like my jaw is on the floor over that kind gesture! I am left to wonder what kind of world we would live in if we all operated like this beautiful stranger . . .
A bientot!PS: And if you are wondering if I paid her back, well, of course I did!
Friday, March 9, 2012
Letting Loose
A few times a week, I’ve been going back to the love of my youth: just mucking about with paint. This is mainly an effort to loosen up my style. Last week, I used spices from my kitchen as the basis for a few of my paintings.
It all happened by accident. I was hosting a North African themed party and along with the hummus, cous cous and the spicy roasted veg, I wanted to make some unconventional place mats. So I swirled glue on poster paper and sprinkled cumin, cinnamon, curry and chili flakes over my patterns. After a little coughing and shaking about, I really liked the lines I created.
Here’s a close up of the spices melded to the page:
Once the spices were dry, I sprayed them with a clear acrylic and realized the place mats were too delicate to put plates over. Unconventional? Hum. Unpractical? Not exactly.
Next, I covered my sketch with paint.
My eyes no longer water from the chili flakes and place mats are now paintings. Life is good!
A bientot.
PS- See Spice Man, on my painting page, another painting created in this method.
It all happened by accident. I was hosting a North African themed party and along with the hummus, cous cous and the spicy roasted veg, I wanted to make some unconventional place mats. So I swirled glue on poster paper and sprinkled cumin, cinnamon, curry and chili flakes over my patterns. After a little coughing and shaking about, I really liked the lines I created.
Here’s a close up of the spices melded to the page:
Once the spices were dry, I sprayed them with a clear acrylic and realized the place mats were too delicate to put plates over. Unconventional? Hum. Unpractical? Not exactly.
I then incorporated charcoal and pencil into the “place mats” to work out a composition.
Next, I covered my sketch with paint.
My eyes no longer water from the chili flakes and place mats are now paintings. Life is good!
A bientot.
PS- See Spice Man, on my painting page, another painting created in this method.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!
You may have seen my work at Fuse#8 Production yesterday. I had a lot of fun doing the exercise: take a famous children's illustrator's style and reinterpret a page from a Dr. Seuss book. Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!
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| Horton the Elephant in the style of William Steig |
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| Horton the elephant in the style of Beatrix Potter |
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