Collaborating - The Return...

At the beginning of the summer holidays a friend and I agreed to share some of our creativity and use it to inspire each other - I was really excited by this, as I love what she does. 

There were a couple of sneaky peeks at the piece of felt I gave her here.

Just before I went on holiday I received her wonderful work....and here it is, accompanied by a full view of the random wooliness:

The Return

Foamy surf, the blue-green ebb and flow of life on earth,

The never-ending motion of the pull against

The yellow sky, not a sunset, almost ominous,

Sulphurous, a backdrop for shadows.

 

A lumbering bulk, clumsy on land, hulking

Against the sandy vastness.

A silent, indistinct almost formless something,

Moving into the rhythm of sea.

At last, in the smooth depths, dugong-like,

Strange grace from great weight; waves lift and caress,

Silver threads weaving in and out of cerulean space,

Bubbles rising to the surface.

Finally, sunset comes, the shepherd’s sky,

A promise of good, and on the shore,

A perfect footprint, as big, as deep as a turtle’s laying nest,

Not formless, not indistinct.

 

I love Karen's poem, I have read it many times and find new depths.

The most amazing aspect of the collaboration has been how the image has been interpreted.

After I had read and commented on her poem Karen shared some of her thought processes. 

The piece of felt had been made with the sand at the bottom and I had intended the dark form as a footprint...but Karen had looked at it the other way up and revealed a shadowy figure....how fantastic!

After my initial reading of the poem I realised this, but found it hard to see 'him' and a tryptich came to mind..(Picture of a figure with yellow sky and sea below; watery scene with smoothly swimming whale form and bubbles; and the existing image as a footprint  on the sand) 

However as I re-read the words and gazed at the picture the figure lumbered into view ...

I could see 'him'! I felt quite emotional!

So I have used the same image both ways up to accompany the poem, I hope you can see him too!

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Karen and she has sent me some more of her amazing writing. 

I hope to make something in response to some of her powerful work and I have an idea for another piece of wooliness to prompt some more creative writing....

Thank you Karen...may this be the first of many creative collaborations!

Being Creative - Summer

I think this post should have the subtitle of: Learning to leisurely stroll before you can run!

The thoughts, as usual, for this months Being Creative topic have been whirring away at speed for more than a month... I think the process of this creation is just as important as the final result..so please bear with me!!

Following a comment I made on someone's lovely ocean creation last month I began thinking about the composition of most of my projects... I like to make things colourful, bright, cheerful and warm....things that I suppose other people would like to look at...the fish I make are orange, the sea, blue....and I do know from holiday photos on people's blogs it can be beautifully blue...but its not always!

So I decided I should be a bit more realistic in my choice of subject matter for summer.....

I still thought of flowers...poppies.... but where they grow....on waste ground or by the roadside....

after a motorway journey last week observing the roadside flora (and what an amazing array there is..such a positive and pretty colour pallette bordering the ribbon of tarmac)..I picked Rosebay Willowherb...(for the picture -  in my head - not on the hard shoulder)

In the true spirit of Being Creative I decided to try something new and out of my comfort zone...

I enthusiastically ripped the plastic off a new set of watercolour pencils and opened the watercolour sketchbook with trepidation! (Yes, it was a mixture of emotions!!)

I began with a few sketch ideas to get a feel of the media, and the dived in headfirst!!

That's the point where I especially should have strolled....

As a first attempt I'm quite pleased..it certainly ticks the 'I've tried something different' box

and it has reminded me of some other factors:  I like to race with the wind in my hair before I have even taken a few wobbly steps; I'd love the finished article on paper  to look identical to the beautiful image in my head; I am so enthusiastic to keep the momentum going I power onto the next stage before the last one dries; I am aware of the benefits of relaxation and going with the flow; I am still trying to disguise all my 'could try harder's into positives!

It looks a bit more peaceful country garden than gritty roadside ...but again...thats what makes me appreciate even more the talents of people who can make a picture look like how they had imagined it to be, or what the viewer would like to see!

I have enjoyed this whole process once again, Thank you to Julia for the inspirational topics and to all the wonderful comments  that flutter across the ether and land here. Its so great to be able to share everyone's creations.

I will leave you with one of my rough sketches which, because I was still fairly relaxed, turned out more like what I had in my head than the real thing!