Grass Mowing "Procrastination" Haiku - April 2011

Grass Mowing "Procrastination" Haiku - April 2011

Mower sitting idle...
The grass grows taller each day...
Day dreams fill my thoughts...

Procrastination

Ideas are easy for me and follow through not so easy although I love doing the things that put the ideas into reality. Here is one of my favorite sketchbook pages, one which has not been put into the textile form I imagine for it. Who knows why!

Sketchbooks Fun and Full
Ideas Burst Like Fireworks
Fruition Hard Idea

Linda Jacks

Triple Procrastination

When I first saw our April word, I couldn't think how I'd depict such a thing.  But the answer came as soon as I wrote it down in my day planner, along with all the jobs I keep writing in there, day after day, which never seem to get done. I'd make my undone jobs. Or some of them.

The background of this piece is made from leftover strata from my bargello period - fifteen or so years ago.  I always meant to do something with these things, they are too pretty to throw out. (procrastination #1)

I turned up the strata in the cleaning out and reorganization of my workroom - which I started back last fall and still have not finished. (procrastination #2)

The image depicts certain parts of my garden where I never got around to the fall clearances, which I can blame in part on the abnormally cold winter and spring we've had, but not entirely. (procrastination #3)

Techniques used here are machine piecing, fused and machine applique, machine quilting, stamping, ink on fabric, all done from commercial hand-dyes.  This quilt measures 10 1/2 by 11 3/4.

emerging spring leaves
reach for light through old dead weeds
last year's work undone

Procrastination challenge

Procrastination... something that used to irritate me when I watched this happening.
Schooled in the field of "Time Management' I often see procrastination as something to be longed for. I had to learn to set priorities, work at what needs doing using the 'swiss cheese' formula and make every moment count. It is actually amazing what can be accomplished using 'time management'.... sometimes to just procrastinate would feel good!

In my mind's eye I see procrastinationas a big hand blocking what I need to do... and sometimes it even demands my focus. I learned that 'Procrastination... is an enemy of time', and hence really don't spend much time with it.

With all that in mind, my Haiku came into focus:

'Eye' see you out there
Please! don't waste my time today
Come back when I am free

My interpretation:  Journal using at least one piece of fabric. This fabric I had painted then 'marked' using Shiva Sticks... so it was a scrap,  I traced my hand and cut it out.

Procrastination

Sucks joy from my soul
Prevents me from achieving
What is possible

I envision procrastination as a door.


There is hope - there is no lock on the door.


And behind the door lie dreams.

Procrastination

Time is running out

deadline is approaching

time for cup of tea

Fragments of Time

I loved the prompt word - Procrastination.  Really got me thinking.

Process: first thought of "why" we procrastinate - in general. Could be some  underlying fear of failure or for some - fear of success. Maybe we don't think  that we have the specific skill required or talent needed to complete the task  and that we will face ridicule. Maybe we're in conflict about the task at hand  and aren't even sure it's something that we want to do. Maybe we're overwhelmed  by other demands in our lives and can't give adequate attention to this newer  demand. Maybe we don't have a clear enough image of exactly what it is we want  to accomplish. Maybe the task is boring compared to some other activity that  could substitute.

I considered these ideas and wrote the following Haiku:

           The Haiku

Demands, wants, needs, musts

I want to..........I don't want to

Relentless tick - tock

I decided that I would set specific goals for the art work.

1.  To complete the work in a set amount of time -      time that I alternatively would have spent that evening playing a game on the computer . I thought that it was not unreasonable to have the main designing and rough assembly done in 45 minutes.                   I would do the quilting and finishing the following day.

2. I have a plastic storage box full of previously fused cotton scraps - some of which are remnants from previous projects.  My challenge was to use ONLY fabrics from that particular box.  Believe me, there was plenty to choose from.

Done! The completed piece is approximately 12 inches by 12 inches. It is entitled Fragments of Time. Disparate elements brought together to form a cohesive whole. It demonstrates how focus, definition and time
limits overcame procrastination in one dedicated to that art.
Constructed in a very traditional straightforward way - cotton with fused  applique, machine quilted. 

Fragments of Time

Detail -Fragments of Time

April Haiku

Buds are blossoming

Yet Still snow is falling

Spring, why temporize?

This is suede cloth applique on silk dupioni. The snow flakes are hand embroidered and the cherry blossoms are made from a method I love to use: fuse your fabric to both sides of heavy duty aluminum foil and cut whatever shape you desire. They are attached with french knot centers. It's so much fun as you can bend and shape them and they stay that way!

The quilt is gallery wrap framed.

It measures 11x14

Cherie

Procrastination

My found haiku reads:

I would walk the halls
settle into a big chair
I'd read the papers

The piece is collaged with teabags and paste paper that was patterned with a comb, plus a photo from the newspaper.

Challenge # 4... Procrastination

Oh.... put your thinking caps on for this one!! When this was sent to me by the April 'word-prompter'...
well... I am stuck!!
Here it is: provided by Silvia Dell'Aere 
'Procrastination'................................... looking forward to seeing what everyone does with it!

Carole

Sunshine

My Sunshine Haiku for March 2011

Sunshine glistening...
Beams dance across the water...
It's heat warms my soul...

March - Sunshine

When we got our word for the month, sunshine and the coming spring became intertwined in my mind.  Here in Virginia, yellow crocuses and daffodils are the first to appear, but I've seen them blooming in the snow.   The bright yellow blooms of the forsythia are one of the true signs that winter is about done. This year they appear to have lied though, since we're expecting snow this weekend.

The branches and blossoms on this piece were taken from my own photos and from life, and drawn with various watercolor pencils and crayons and then quilted.

Since I found last month that I don't much like writing directly on the background, this time I placed my haiku on a scrap of rice paper. Then I quilted that and the background with monofilament thread.  The quilting design is meant to illustrate spring breezes.

yellow as sunshine
bright forsythia blossoms
proclaim winter's end

This is a clearer picture of "Warrior Sunshine". I had slept on the couch that night and the sun woke me. Maybe I should have put some of the candy wrapper on the couch as a blanket?

2.5" x 3.5"
decorative and handmade papers from art store, brown bag, pigma pen onto recycled card base; hole in top right corner for carrying on my card ring.

Sunshine silk scarf and pendant

I recently came back from my trip to Peru and had a wonderful time. I got together with an old friend from college whom I haven’t seen in 30 years!! She gave me an orange and yellow pendant design by her. It is made with fused glass and said it represented the summer days in Peru since they are very hot and humid. So, when I came back I wanted to paint a silk scarf that complements it. After I read the March word “sunshine”,  I figured I would  make a Haiku about it:

      The rays of sunlight

              glowing light on the new day

       embrace me fiercely

Marga Korioth

March: "Sunshine"

As usual, I had several attempts at composing this moth's haiku, using the word prompt of sunshine.
I finally settled for

" Molten copper ballIn cerulean blue sky;Surf tumbling on shore."

My A4 sized quiltlet was formed with the background of Lutradur bonded to blue homespun.
Using a card stencil I laid Expandapaint in the shape of a corona; heat treated it to get dimensional effect and then gilded it.
Using silk fabric and Angelina film I created the "ball"...the actual sun.
Next was to applique the sea tumbling on the white shores.

Sunshine

The haiku was found in a tiny pocket edition of "Walden," by Thoreau.  It's collaged with teabags, handmade paper, old music and cheesecloth.  The cheesecloth and the book were also tea-stained to go better with the old music.

the haiku reads:

music at sunrise
expectation of the dawn
does not forsake us

Not Yet

March bodes fickle days
hope ferns porches trees weeds green
Maybe maybe not

This is paint on watercolor paper, torn, sewn fabric, painted, stamped deli paper collaged, more paint...
Linda Jacks

Forest Canopy - March Sunshine

I've always been fascinated by the patterns made by sunshine as it is filtered through dense foliage.

Following is my photo of a sun drenched redwood at a State Park in Northern California.

Armstrong Redwoods State Park

               

Forest Canopy        

Clefts in rain soaked branches         

Sunbeams bursting through   

Upon resolution of machine issues I hope to have this piece executed in cloth.

Sunflower 1

Like sunshine distilled
The sunflowers nod their heads
Dancing in the wind



The image of a sunflower popped into my head when I heard this month's challenge word. A step-by-step description of the process is on my personal blog.

March Sunshine

Sunshine warms my heart
the cockles flutter gently
TAKE! a pocketful....

I was sitting in the backyard enjoying the warm of the sun, listening to the birds sing, the bees buzz and watched a butterfly waft near... so peaceful, so serene... it just made me feel good inside... why, I thought can't I just take some of this.. and save it...
I wrote the Haiku and gradually put the piece together in my Journal book...

I used yellow tissue paper and paint... fabric scraps, scrapbook 'pretties' and an organza pouch for the pocket....

I look forward to your comments....

Sunshine

Heat penetrates earth

pulling stems and leaves skyward

Sun decides it’s spring.

This month I decided to play with mixed media collage. My piece is 10” X 14”. The back is a piece of heavy pellon. I first glued on a layer of fabric scraps in different sizes and dimensions, including a piece of my own snow-dyed muslin, covering the entire piece of pellon. The next layer was made up of various types of papers – magazine, paper towel, yellow pages, receipt, paper napkin, hand-made paper, wrapping paper, and tissue. Words were included in that layer. The next layer is strictly torn yellow tissue paper. Then I glued on lengths of yarn and ribbon for stems, as well as the haiku lines printed on paper, and fused on leaves cut from fabric. The dirt is made from a piece of brown paper bag and a dyed dryer sheet, both painted sloppily with black acrylic, then scrunched and glued on.

Warrior Sunshine

Sugar is my drug of choice. I am allergic to it. It does terrible things to my feet and lungs. I woke this morning with the sun beating through the window, shining through the haze of yesterday's indulgence.  Enough is enough! Haiku on happier sunshine to come in future days perhaps. This one came fast and I used what I had. (thank goodness for cello tape)

Chocolate "head" showing out from "covers/blanket" of wrapper. "Feet" showing ingredient list of what affects them the most - golden and glucose syrup.

Bright, Hot Cleansing Light
From Sugar Coma Wakes me
Darkness is LIFTED!

Golden Orb

My haiku and quilt are inspired by our glorious Sun. I hand stitched all the gold using gold aurora holoshimmer sewing thread. The rest of the piece was felted by hand using one fine felting needle and wool, silk and some specialty yarns held together with a little angelina for sparkle. It is mounted on black and gallery wrapped.

finished size 11"x14"

Cherie

Dispeller of gloom

incandescent, resplendant

blazing Golden Orb

March

On my way home from a wedding in Tokyo when this month's challenge was announced, I assumed my March entry would celebrate the Japanese spring. Alas, the words did not want to cooperate and so my wedding haiku is a poem separate from challenge #3 (see below).

Instead my haiku and accompanying artwork are about arriving home to find winter still firmly entrenched where I expected to find at least the hints of changing seasons.

March

In the spring parade

March is a month out of step

Sunshine trips on snow

For the artwork I took a photo of bare trees in the snow on a sunny day and arranged them in a kaleidoscope and then reduced the image, printed it out and encased it in resin to form a pendant. I included the original larger image as it is hard to see the details on the smaller pendant in the photo.

For my Japanese wedding haiku I offer the following:
Tender cherry buds
Unfold in sweet modesty

Like a young bride's smile

My Haiku
Newly washed sunshine
escapes the clouds, dances through the trees
gently freckles the ground

I felted yarn for the trunk, Used snippets of fabric for the tree and sunshine and quilted it. Fun , quick and done.