Owl – Commissioned Paper Cutting
2.5 x 3.5 inch paper cutting. I did this tiny owl for a tattoo design.
William Stafford – Kansas Poet
I’ve been reading a lot of Kansas raised poet Williams Stafford’s work lately and am really enjoying it. There’s a really great biography on the Poetry Foundation’s website (read it here). I’ve always been inspired by the imagery and ideas within poems, and I really connect to a lot of those in Stafford’s work.. maybe it’s the Kansas thing..
Independence Creek, Atchison, KS, 2009.
Sending These Messages
by William Stafford
Over these writings I bent my head.
Now you are considering them. If you
turn away I will look up: a bridge
that was there will be gone.
For the rest of your life I will stand here,
reaching across.
If these writings can bring a turn
or an echo that touches you ~ maybe
a face, a slant, a tune ~ you will stop
too and bend over them. When you
look up, your thought will reach
wherever I am.
I know it is strange. and there is no measure
for this. The only connection we make
is like a twinge when sometimes they change
the beat in music, and we sprawl with it
and hear another world for a minute
that is almost there.
Nuthatch – Commissioned Paper Cutting
2.5 x 4 inch paper cutting. Sold.
Geodes Magnified
I wrote about these geodes last Friday. Read it HERE.
When I was a kid, I liked to go rock hunting. One time I was walking down a gravel road at the county lake and I found a geode, just small enough to get lost in the gravel, in the middle of the road. It had purple tinted crystals.. I’ve since lost it, but it was a very memorable find.
Some Flowers Grow on the Shadier Side of the Tree
5 x 7 inch paper cutting.
Signs of spring in my front yard
Music: Richard Buckner – Still Looking For You (by Townes Van Zandt)
Monday/ Quail
Atchison County, KS, 2009.
I haven’t been out in the country with my camera for more than a few weeks now, and I’m feeling it… I’ve got lots to work on — this week I’ll be finishing up and dropping off my donation to the Lawrence Arts Center for their annual benefit auction. I’m also working on some more wintery images for possible greeting cards for Artists To Watch. And then, all the other work I need to get done, especially in preparation for my summer of art fairs. I’ve signed on to the Zeleny Art Fair — a new one-day event taking place in Parkville, MO, on the last Saturday of April.
I’ve also been trying to get myself in gear to run the Westport St. Patrick’s Day 4-miler with my cousin next Saturday in Kansas City.. I’m not competing, and I generally prefer to run alone as a sort of meditational thing — clear thoughts, feeling each step on the ground, paying close attention to the environment around me, yadda yadda, but it’s a nice feeling of accomplishment to finish a race and it’s pretty fun as well. Til next time.
Thoughts from the Roadside
Rural Atchison, KS, roadside weeds & wildflowers, October, 2009.
Just Thinking
by Kansas poet William Stafford
Got up on a cool morning. Leaned out a window.
No cloud, no wind. Air that flowers held
for awhile. Some dove somewhere.
Been on probation most of my life. And
the rest of my life been condemned. So these moments
count for a lot–peace, you know.
Let the bucket of memory down into the well,
bring it up. Cool, cool minutes. No one
stirring, no plans. Just being there.
This is what the whole thing is about.