A Poem for Wednesday - Begin Again

Begin Again

Thought I would begin this day
With a stolen moment in the sun
But so much has already gone before
That to do so I must begin
Again.

I meant to put me on the top of the list
So why do I so often start
From the bottom up
Doing all the busy tasks before dawn
While I still have a full head of steam
I begin.

But must maybe this mid morning break
Is the real beginning of my day
And what has gone before is but preamble
Tithes I owe to others
Allotments to the busy world apart
From me.

My world begins with this stolen moment
A last cup of coffee sipped in the morning sun
Mulling over what I really want to do
What color to paint my sky
What subject for the painting
Not begun.

And so as I take the last sip of coffee
And drink in the possibilities before me
I listen to the birds and the breeze
And celebrate the opening of a flower
My must do's behind me
I begin.

(c) J. Binford-Bell

Do you have a poem for Wednesday? Join us.

My So Called Life with more summer thoughts

Intelliblog and Nicholas V from the 360 days

Dangerous Meredith

Blessing Way

Blessing Way 18 x 24 Mixed Media on Canvas

There may be some tweaks in this painting's future before taking the official photographs, but there is a lot I really like about this one. I managed to get sheep into a painting that is not of a church. I first put Navajo women in a painting called the Guardian this winter.


I like the combination of the goddesses in the canyons with the people of that land, but it raises all sorts of issues about scale and perspective. I don't want to lessen the grandeur of the cliffs and monuments but I don't want the women to pale into insignificance. A friend raised the question about the facelessness of my goddesses and people. I told her I don't want them to be a specific woman. Too much detail and they are no longer every woman.

The other question raised by Blessing Way is ownership of what may be termed the Native American Spirituality. Here in the southwest we are swamped by Wannabes. I am not Navajo and yet I have always felt an infinity with their spiritual path or blessing way. I have decided I have come to that path not from a desire to wannabe like them but through the land as they have. There is something about the Colorado Plateau and its vast empty spaces and awe inspiring sandstone monuments shaped by the wind and the rain that leads you away from ownership of the land to being its partner through your journey. By putting simple people in the paintings with my goddesses I am trying to convey that marriage of body and soul, of land and spirit.

Churches are ever so much easier to paint.

A Poem for Wednesday

This is Multi-blog Poetry Wednesday even if I posted it on Tuesday. See below for others linking in with their poems for Wednesday's tour.


I find myself very effected by the news of the D.C Metro crash on the Red Line. I know people that ride that train daily. I have ridden the trains on the Orange Line. So I felt compelled to write a poem for Poetry Wednesday.

Now I lay me down to Tweet

The metro train on the red route was rolling along
Sixty miles per hour through the Maryland suburbs
Summer blooming in the country beside the track
She was texting on her Blackberry
Her life in a 140 character Tweet on Twitter.

It is possible so was the engineer like the one in LA
Totally unaware of the stopped train at the station
Disgorging weary DC workers at the end of their day
Intent upon fishing out the keys to their SUV’s
Unlocking the doors and starting the air conditioning.

In the central control room where it is programmed to prevent such things
Maybe the routing clerk spilled his coffee on the keyboard
Or was answering his cell phone
Making a note to bring home bread for dinner
Or tweeting when he should have been paying attention.

The birds sitting on the blooming Red buds
Were the only ones totally aware
Of life and living and the soon to be setting sun
As train A climbed up the back of Train B at the station
Like a horny stallion on a broodmare in his paddock.

Someone tweeted or is it twittered
‘I think we have hit something’ before they were slammed
Their Blackberries lost in the rubble on the tracks
Scores of injured tagged with green and red for emergency transport
Nine dead with black tags.

If they had known it might well be their last glimpse of earth
Would they have closed their newspapers
Shifted their attention to the here and now
To the blooming red buds laden with birds
Looked at the clouds in the sky one last time.

Would the commuter that tweeted
‘I think we might have hit something’
Want her 140 characters back for a more significant text
'Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.'

(c) Jacqui Binford-Bell

And yes there will be another multi-blog tour so leave me a message with your url.

My So-called Life has popped in with her poem by Robert Burns on Tuesday. Way to go.

Dangerous Meredith

Shouting at Street Lights

Intelliblog

The New Economy

I feel a lot like the kitten in the picture above. Fairs are exhausting. Thankfully I am doing less of them this year. The economy made me take a long and hard look at my usual slate of fairs and delete some - the more expensive and further away.

Artists knew the economy was in recession a full year to two years before anyone in the government admitted it. It hit us first. Lots of my artist friends that existed on fair sales declared bankruptcy that first year. This year we have all pulled back severely on expenses because you cannot rely on previous sale figures to predict any given sales event.

This last weekend was a good fair. Not great but good. For this economy it was very acceptable. What I really noticed was my reluctance to spend any of what I made. Normally when a fair is good there is a lot of artists buying art or trading art. And that did not happen this fair. That extra boost on sales that comes from your fellow exhibitors in the closing hours was just not there.

I packed up and came home and ran my credit cards and prepared my deposit slip for the bank and then looked at what I "have to spend" before my next fair. It is relatively little. I need to paint a few more paintings and I already have the canvas. They will need framed and so there will be $40 to $60 for wood to make frames. And printer ink has gone up so much in price that I am going to have some cards printed instead of doing them myself. There is an Internet based company a friend has used and I should be able to get 500 done for $40. One print cartridge for my HP is $39.

I want the majority of this weekend's profits to stay in the bank. I never want another winter like last one when I had no idea where I was getting the money for the heating bills or pet food. Many of my fellow exhibitors at this weekend's event feel the same, and artists are not known for a conservative approach to the budget.

I am just thrilled that there are people who still have expendable income; money they can spend on art. They are buying at the lower price points on a whole but they are buying. And those artists that sold prints just sold prints. I have been debating prints for some time and I think I am currently on the "originals only" side of the argument.

I noticed when I was catching up with the news of the last three days last night that a recent poll reflected that most people believe Obama has improved the economy. But most also think he does not have a clear plan. Who does? We have not been this way before and I think we are all making guesses. In some cases more educated guesses. None of my artist friends have gotten past spend less as to a game plan.

Any thoughts among my readers as to what is a wise move in these days?

Art Sunday - A Bit of Bragging

I was judged Best of Show at the Red River Art and Wine Festival yesterday. And wanted to honor the judge and his work today. Ed Sandoval is one of the best known artists in the Southwest today. He was born in Nambe, New Mexico and currently lives in Taos where he is considered one of the local characters. Artists must have character.

I met him for the first time yesterday and found him very enchanting and very serious about his judging chores. He was considering composition and use of color and handling of medium and overall presentation. So naturally after receiving the award I felt highly flattered and went immediately to Google when I got home to review his work.



I am not sure if I am most impressed with having won Best of Show or having met this living legend of the artistic world or that he considered my paintings worthy of note.

Another Multi-Blog Poetry Wednesday

I am going to post a poem by William Blake this week. I have been too busy to find that calm creative center required to write poetry.


The Angel

I dreamt a dream! What can it mean?
And that I was a maiden Queen
Guarded by an Angel mild:
Witless woe was ne'er beguiled!

And I wept both night and day,
And he wiped my tears away;
And I wept both day and night,
And hid from him my heart's delight.

So he took his wings, and fled;
Then the morn blushed rosy red.
I dried my tears, and armed my fears
With ten-thousand shields and spears.

Soon my Angel came again;
I was armed, he came in vain;
For the time of youth was fled,
And grey hairs were on my head.

William Blake

More poems from William Blake

Please join us if you have a poem to share.

Djeseru is our first this week

NicholasV at Intelliblog

Shouting at Street Lights posted an interesting poetic challenge earlier this week

Dag T joins us for the first time this week

Bee

Kennedy James

Two More of the New Paintings

I was posting a blog on Profiles and remembered I had promised to post two of my new paintings here having only posted two before. Promise kept. Avid readers may note that the first one is a duplicate of the Manzano Mission painted in 11 x 14 format but this one in daylight as opposed to moonlight - or dawn rather than sunset. I often do my mission churches in diagonal as well as rectangular format.

I could argue that my diagonal mission church paintings are merely a novelty but they are a novelty that sells. And it is not just to collectors looking for something new. I think turning the canvas on point occupies more space. Ergo a smallish painting looks larger on the wall and seems like better value for the money.


As for repeating subjects I defend that with Monet and his waterlilies. And there are just a finite amount of old mission churches in New Mexico (though I am continually amazed when I find a new one) but there are four seasons and an infinite number of cloud formations. Thus every "repeat" of a church is new. I have done the church below before but this is the first time in spring.


Certainly no different than flowers or self-portrait or your mistress again and again. Though I must admit with Picasso he did change mistresses a lot.