It Suddenly Dawned

Posting this at 10:30pm on May 31 and getting my quilt and haiku in just under the wire.  It Suddenly Dawned is part my developing series of water/reflection/horizon art quilts.  I just found out today it was accepted into the 30th Annual New Legacies: Contemporary Art Quilts Exhibition in Fort Collins, Colorado.  Very excited.  This is 75.5 x 32 wide and has a similar size and construction as Tranquil Marsh/Wild Iris of my last posted artwork that I will post a full picture of as soon as I am able.  But this gives you an idea of how big it is.

The haiku gave me a little trouble at first and then I managed to come up with two.  I like them both but they are very different in tone.  I thought I'd share both.  I think the first suits the artwork better but I still like the second.

painted sky . . .

lapping light stretches

into dawn

morning reflections

dissolve into the vastness . . .

all at sea

Elena Stokes

elena@focusonfiberart.com

focusonfiberart.com

May - Awakening

The May full moon is most commonly called the flower moon, though a close second is the planting moon, which seemed appropriate for our current word prompt of awakening. Other names are milk moon, likely referring to animal mothers producing food for their newly born offspring, and the hare moon. Judging from the rabbits running amok in my front field, that seems appropriate. There were two out there this evening playing leapfrog. Or at least that's what it looked like. I expect they were playing at mating.

I am a gardener, of both flowers and food. It always intrigues me to see the power of a tiny dried up looking seed when it comes to life and pushes its sprout up through the soil. Beans in particular, which is what this one is if you didn't recognize it, disturb the dirt to the point where it looks like someone's been out there with a hoe.

This was made from a photograph, which I got by lying in the wet grass. Absolute dedication. What do you reckon the neighbors thought? Do I really care? I printed an enlargement, traced the outlines for a pattern and fused the fabric parts to make the whole. The pebble quilting in the dirt part is meant to illustrate the disturbed earth. That, and I have this thing for the look of pebbling, so I'm trying to practice it at every opportunity. I think I'm getting better at it.

I have had a hard time with the haiku, it's still not quite right. If I come up with better word imagery, I'll edit at it, so don't think you've lost your memory if it becomes different.

mysterious shapes
awaken in the moonlight
thrusting earth aside

Happy May !

Well it's just after midnight where I am and officially May 1.  We DO have a prompt word this month - thank you Kristin Freeman.  The word is Awakening  

For those of you who are in the midst of developing a series, I think that's great and hope you will consider the prompt word as another influence on your work this month. We had discussed that some of us would like to end up with a more cohesive body of work at the end of the year - including myself and that will definitely be doable. Most of the prompt words that we are given can lead us off in so many directions.

Remember - the prompt word itself does NOT have to be in the Haiku.

This is definitely a time of transition for our Haiku Art Group. It's wonderful to look back over the last 16 months and see all the moving words and exciting art that has come from this group.

And now we are welcoming new members and are excited to have Elena Stokes already posting her work!

We look forward to having Phyllis Cullen joining us soon as well.

Kathy Loomis offered a great observation about our two sites (internal/external) and suggested that perhaps we post exclusively here so that everyone knows exactly where to seek information.

That will certainly simplify communication.

However I recommend that we leave our internal site active for the time being just to see if there are occasions when we need it.

I don't think that the art will get lost in the chatter - we have such an easy system with the labels to find everything readily.

My final note - Congratulations to our most diligent completers and posters:  Martha Dennis and Kris Bishop. Many kudos to both of you. That's sure not an easy accomplishment.

Have a wonderful productive month of May!

hugs,

Guila Greer

honeyquilts@gmail.com