Wednesday, April 18, 2012

National Poetry Month and a Creative Challenge

On Inspiration Avenue, and in conjunction with National Poetry Month, we have a weekly challenge.
April is National Poetry Month and in honor of that... a challenge to revolve around poetry, but also include other forms of the written word, a favorite quote, or novel, or perhaps merely a special word. What inspires you, and how does it make you feel? Pour out those feelings artistically! Whether in oils, collage, watercolor, mixed media, photography, digital art... anything goes, just express it!
Iris are fun to paint, and inspire me.  So I decided to find a poem about iris and then paint one or two.  Here is a poem about iris written by Edith Buckner Edwards in 1961:

Iris, most beautiful flower,
Symbol of life, love, and light;
Found by the brook, and the meadow,
Or lofty, on arable height.
You come in such glorious colors,
In hues, the rainbow surpass;
The chart of color portrays you,
In petal, or veins, of your class.
You bloom with the first in Winter,
With the last, in the Fall, you still show;
You steal the full beauty of Springtime,
With your fragrance and sharp color glow.
Your form and beauty of flower,
An artist's desire of full worth;
So Iris, we love you and crown you,
MOST BEAUTIFUL FLOWER ON EARTH!

Inspired by iris, I got out the silk paints and spread them and all the paraphenalia that goes along with painting on silk, and began this painting with iris as the theme.  It took about a week to complete.  It is ready to frame in a convenient size of 16" x 20".  This is my answer to the Inspiration Avenue weekly challenge.

16 comments:

  1. Gorgeous poem and painting! I have a few iris in my yard! I SO enjoy them when they bloom! Enjoy your day my friend, HUGS!

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  2. Oh Nancy this is LOVELY!Thank you SO much for entering the challenge. Your poem and your silk painting are wonderful & i love your use of color!

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  3. Oh so pretty, and I love the poem! Iris are one of the loveliest flowers :)

    The shawl and the socks in the post below...omg, you are an amazing knitter! (is that the correct word?) The socks look so cozy, and the shawl is breathtaking!

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  4. Beautiful, luminous flowers! Irisis are my favorites, too. Lovely poem!

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  5. I love your blog, beautiful crafts
    kisses from Uruguay
    Ximena

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  6. Hi Nancy! It's nice to meet you!
    We've hardly talked about poetry month at school. I'll do that right away!
    Your silk paintings are lovely!

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  7. The irises are just beginning to bloom at my house and these are lovely. I've never seen a silk painting before, at least not one I am familiar with. It is both beautiful and unique.

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  8. Hello! Thank you so much for visiting my blogs, and for such a nice comment...I am ashamed to admit I just found it-I should visit my own blogs more often!
    God Bless you!

    PS-I love your art too!

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  9. Beautiful entry. The most beautiful flower in my garden and the most laid back. I wait patiently every year for them to bloom and they do so so eloquently as if they are doing a slow dance. Love your poem and picture!

    XO
    Kim

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  10. Beautiful Nancy. Can't write poetry but I love
    'I wandered lonely as a cloud
    That floats on high o'er vales and hills
    When all at once I saw a crowd
    A host of golden Daffodils:
    Beside the lake beneath the trees
    Fluttering and dancing in the breeze'
    by William Wordsworth.These are the flowers I missed most when I left Scotland as there were none in Australia-glad to say that has changed and we can get Daffodils now.

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  11. It's lovely Nancy! I can see why you were inspired to paint irises - they're such gorgeous colours. I love the softness of this painting and the way the silk paints flow and blend.

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  12. a lovely poem and a perfect summer image *sigh*

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  13. Really? This beauty is on silk? Beautifully done!

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