your tree is bent to the “mother side” which would lead me to ask questions about your relationship with your mother. You added bark, which signals the need for protection… i could go on… my own quote.. (the tree is the wondow to the soul)
My response:
Wow. Hah. I can’t say that I put that much thought into it. I just sort of needed something to draw, saw a tree on the cover of a book similar to this, and so I drew it. But perhaps your suggesting there are some subconscious tendencies to this, which is to be expected, I suppose. It’s common that unexpected meaning comes out when you create something.
Or to think about it another way, once any art or writing is made, it owns itself and is free to be many things to many people. Anyone can take any piece of art and interpret it as they will. At that point, the art begins to say less about the artist than it does about the person interpreting it.
Your response tells me a bit about you, that which fascinates you, and the way in which you view the world. You seem to show your spiritual side here, and certainly your passion for trees. (I would be interesting to learn how you developed your theories on trees.)
As to my relationship with my mother… we are very close, always have been. I must admit to some recent tension due to a series of recent challenges, which have affected the entire family. The result of this was that I have been the stable rod supporting my mother’s emotional rollercoaster. A role I’ve been honored to play, able thus to clearly see my mother grow and become a stronger person. But I’ve also recently reached a place in which I have had to seek my own sanctuary, my own space for personal emotional growth. A goal I’m still in the progress of working toward.
Maybe all that is in that little sketch that I threw together yesterday morning. I’m not inclined to think so (it was such a quick little drawing based on an existing tree), but who knows. Many, many things are possible. (^_^)
Things Accomplished in the Past Week In writing… I’ve finally pulled out my short story and started editing it. I’ve worked through two scenes, which is a good (re)start. These were the most polished scenes in the story, though, and I have a feeling that I will have to do drastic rewrites to make them work. *sigh*
On top of putting down the rough draft of a new poem, I’ve also discovered a kind of found poetry called blackout or erasure poetry, which is fabulous fun. There have been several books, published using the style, include Mary Rueffle’s A Little White Shadow, which I reviewed here, and I’ve learned about a book called Newspaper Blackout, which I’m itching to buy. I’m obsessed with this form, and can’t seem to look at Newspapers the same way again. Every time I pick up the paper, I start scanning it to see what words might come together to form a poem. I love the visual element that is inherent, and as a lover of collage, I try to incorporate that into it.
Not only am I having fun creating blackout poetry, but It’s a relaxing way of getting into the poetic mind. I’m finding that working in this way is helping me to feel more inspired when I face the blank page, too. You can see a few of my blackout poems here.
In art… Several sketches and a new drawing were completed, all in good fun. You can see them here.
In body… I have not done much yoga or running this week. I blame the stress of going to press, and the fact that I’ve had to work overtime several days this week. Which is all well and good, but means that all I want to do when I get home is rest.
To Do in the Coming Week
– continue to make progress on the story (actually finishing = triple bonus points)
– write, edit and/or polish 1-2 of my current poems
– write a 500 word article to submit to Matador
– submit a set of poems or a short story for publication
– do 3 walking/running routines for Couch to 5k
– do 5-7 days of morning yoga
– post a youtube video
– art, doesn’t matter what, but something
[x-posted to my livejournal. If you feel inclined, you may comment either here or there.]
Things Accomplished Last Week
In art, I’ve been doing fairly well. I’ve done some fun sketches in my morning journal, one of them in color, and I had a good time making a collage inspired by India. It’s not really surprising that I’m keeping up with my art, my tumblr is like a shiny new toy and I want to keep playing with it (sometimes to the neglect of my other toys, like writing or livejournal or even twitter).
In writing… well, thank god for my morning poetry journal, because if not for that I would have no new words to report. I’m trying to get back into the habit of things, but trying is not the same as doing. I also received a rejection this week for one poem. Well, on to the next!
In body, I did excellent. I finished Richard Hittleman’s Yoga: 28 Day Exercise Plan, which is an amazing feeling. I now need to keep up with my morning routines as suggested at the back of the book.
I also did week one of the Couch to 5k running plan. I’m feeling pretty good about it. Saturday was a real push for me, though. I think this was because I ran midday when it was rather warmer out than I’m used to. I tend to get lethargic in the heat, so it felt like a much harder run. This is good to know about myself, because I’m going to need to keep that in mind whenever I get around to actually participating in an
To Do in the Coming Week
– continue to make progress on the story (actually finishing = triple bonus points)
– write, edit and/or polish 1-2 of my current poems
– write a 500 word article to submit to Matador
– submit a set of poems or a short story for publication
– do 3 walking/running routines for Couch to 5k
– do 5-7 days of morning yoga
– post a youtube video
– art, doesn’t matter what, but something
[x-posted to my livejournal. If you feel inclined, you may comment here or there.]
While art — from sketching to painting to collage — is not my primary focus, it is something I rather enjoy. For a while now, I’ve been toying with the idea of creating an art blog, in which I would post artwork as I create it, good, bad or in between, as well as pages from my morning poetry journal, in which I have started to sketch as well as write poetry. I’ve also been thinking about the idea of creating art pieces that would incorporate both my poetry and some mixed media art.
To that end I have created a blog over on tumblr that will feature the art and poetry ideas that I’ve noted above. The goal is to post (ideally) everyday, but since I can’t seem to even post here everyday, we’ll go with as often as I can — preferably once a week at a minimum.I’ve already posted some older pieces up there, so if you feel to, then take a moment to check them out.
[x-posted to my livejournal. If you wish to comment, you may do so either here or there.]
So this is the latest youtube video that I’ve thrown together, and by thrown together I mean spent several hours compiling the art, recording the reading, and editing it all together for the measly 30 seconds of video.
The images here used were color photographs, which I cut out, collaged together, and then photocopied. After I had the black and white images (I like the way xeroxes tend to look grainy), I used red and black tempura paint to add the red. All photographs were found on flikr and are used according to the Creative Commons license on the site.
I write things in the hopes of one day publishing things. I have a tendency to have many creative projects floating around at once, from poetry collections to half-written novels to art and crafts projects, and I try to track some of my progress here. I also like books.
You can also find me at:
~ Joyful Girl ~ my livejournal, which offers a whole variety of other topics over and above what's mentioned above
~Andrea's Art Box on tumblr
~ Twitter ~ moment to moment doses of my mental state
~ Youtube ~ for vlogs about writing, zombies, and this and that
~ LibraryThing ~ books I own, have read, and want to read
