From Crocus to the Sea

You might ask yourself what this painting and the crocuses that came before have in common. It turns out that this painting was also inspired by Jason's crocus photograph. I was trying to do a study, and so I painted lines of cerulean blue against lines of cadmium yellow touched with a hint of alizarin crimson, just to see how the colors would fare next to each other. Then I put this aside and painted the crocuses. After the crocuses were finished and all y'all were busy creating brilliant haiku gems to go with the little tykes, I was upstairs in my painting room staring at the orange and blue lines until suddenly they became an ocean scene in my mind. And that's when I started adding stuff. It kind of reminds me of somewhere near Little Girl Lost's fateful crab pond.

(Shhh...don't tell anyone that the birds were photoshopped in...;-)

Image Prompt: Cro-ku

Please don't be afraid,
Won't you please come out and play?
The snow is all gone!

Your haiku creations are desired in the comment section. My only rule is 5-7-5 please. Have at it kids!

Orchid Invasion

You came from the blue
Holding a tiny red pearl
Sun spots can't hide you

A Tapestry of Spring

(Double click to see in full widescreen).

A Tapestry of Spring, an anthology
Narrated by Catherine Vibert
Voices of:
James A Murrell
Cindy Gruenwald
Catherine Vibert (pitch shifted!)
and special guest
Sarah Hina

Poems from the blog:


1) Little Girl by Amritorupa Kanjilal aka Little Girl Lost of Rivers I have known

2) All Fall Down by Rachel Westfall of The Waxing Moon

3) Jonquil Time by Karen Nowviskie of Keeping Secrets

4) Ides by Joaquin Carvel of Lyrics and Maladies

5) Promise by Aniket Thakkar of Melody of Dissonance

6) Resumption by K. Lawson Gilbert of Old Mossy Moon

7) Fly Little Bird by Steve Elsaesser of Another Sober Alcoholic

8) Eden by Sarah Hina of Murmurs

Blogger's Prerogative

The great thing about not getting paid for blogging is that you can change the rules. I don't even need to explain why! But I will tell you the intimate details and then you will understand why I am postponing the posting of the multimedia extravaganza.

Deadline for poems was Monday night.

Tuesday night, one reader came to record your poems.

Wednesday was my dad's birthday so we spent the day making him happy.

Wednesday night another reader came to record your poems.

Thursday, up at 6:00 a.m., worked on audio until 7:00 p.m. with several stretching breaks.

Thursday night a glass of wine never tasted so good. Boring TV never was more of a comfort.

Friday morning (now), awoke in extreme pain, my entire right side is tight like a bow from all the computering yesterday. Still haven't done the visuals. And I have PLANS for the visuals, they are vital, they need time to place, exact and refine. And I need at least an hour for critical reflection, after all you can't just slap something together that is going to go all over the internet and have it be a big sloppy mess (did I mention I'm a perfectionist?).

You know what I'm saying? To heck with schedules Aine, I'll post it as soon as I can. It will be SOON. (As soon as I can without killing myself).

Thank you for your patience. I am THRILLED with the poetry, once again thank you all for your submissions. The caliber of your talents is fantastic.

Just Another Orchid

Long legs unfurling
They descend, speckled tongues wag
Did I hear a laugh?

It's orchid season. See another beautiful orchid at Sarah's blog. Thanks to everyone who submitted poetry (especially to Sarah for the audio!) for this week's extravaganza which will be posted on Friday.

Update: Additional prompt ideas

I just wanted to post an update for the current assignment (see previous post). At this moment (Saturday morning), I have received four entries. None of the entries has been an audio entry, so I want to give a poke to you audio enabled folks. Poke.

Ok, so if you're totally stumped and not in a bad mood at all and therefore can find no inspiration for gloomy things such as irony and doubt, please feel free to write something that absolutely defines Spring's glory.

For additional prompting ideas, think: Regeneration and Renewal. Think Eostre before it morphed into Easter. Think Easter and Passover, and where the heck did that bunny come from anyway? Go crazy folks!

And because I love you all and have realized this will be a holiday extravaganza, I'm extending the deadline to Monday night at midnight. I will post the result on Friday April 10th.

Thanks!

In regards to the photo above, that is the field across the street from whence I get the inspiration for most of my paintings. I often opt to leave out the human structures when I paint, but if you go back to this post I left a few in for good measure. The peacocks live just beyond the trees there.

Image Prompt: Rites of Spring

Dear friends, A couple of bloggers mentioned in my last post that they really did feel the poem expressed was a song. I was able to have the difference between a song and a poem explained to me very clearly by Garrison Keillor, who discussed it on his Valentine's Day show. Since I don't have the transcript handy, I will paraphrase Keillor with apologies in advance to him if I got it at all wrong:

"Thanks to all those who submitted your Valentine's poems, and about them, um (long long pause), how shall I say this tactfully? Folks, a poem can't be about love, because a poem by its very nature contains irony, it contains doubt, uncertainty. If you want to write about love, what you need is a song. Because a song is certain, a song has no doubt, no irony, no confusion, it says what it means!"
(At this point the group breaks into a rousing rendition of "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight.")



Now for today's prompt, we are going to UP the ante. Here's what I would like:

1) If you have the capacity to do it, record yourself reading the poem (to get good acoustics, try taking your recording device to your bed and reading under a blanket (might be needing a headlamp for that). This sounds goofy but all the journalists in the world do it, when you are living for months on end in a concrete block hotel room, you learn how to create a mock recording studio rather quickly. If you can send it via .wav or .aif, that would be preferred, but if you only have the capacity to do mp3, than so be it. Please also send a written copy of the poem when you send the audio file.

2) If you want me to read it for you, then don't bother with the recording issue, just send it to me via E-MAIL (yes Aniket, that means you) at cat@catvibe.com. I will read it for you. I don't need a blanket, I have a recording studio-like place.

3) I am asking for a POEM (not a song!),it must contain the elements of irony, doubt, or hidden meaning. Humor is acceptable. (As is reference to oppression Ms. Jennifer).

4)Today's prompts:
a)Promise or
b)Rites of Spring (or if you want to marry them, both).


Please send your submissions via e-mail to cat@catvibe.com by Sunday, April 5th at midnight. I will likely be posting other things in the meantime and expect to have this posted early next week.

By submitting your work, you give me permission to use it in a multimedia presentation.

In regards to the photos displayed today, I don't have Jason's handy little macro lens, and I don't walk around with a magic tripod to whip out of my purse, but I do what I can with what I have to get sharp and close. And besides, I just wanted to show all you folks in the North that Spring really truly is coming. All these photos shot in the last two weeks. IT WILL COME!


Have fun, and don't be shy!