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12/10/2008

Once Again, Wordy Wednesday

My three winners must now send me their shipping information. Send it to lou.lohman@gmail.com. I will start on the paintings in the next few days and I will create and send them in the order of finish. I will also publish them here and on New At Art so they will be preserved in my library of work.

In honor of this new project, I am reprinting a Haiku I published on a Friday in January. I feel good about doing this reprint - because most of you weren't reading here, so most of you missed it. It's just an expression of the anxiety an artist feels as he or she approaches a new piece. It's kind of like the first date with a new woman (or man, depending). You don't have ANY idea how things are going to turn out, you don't have any idea where you're going, you just hope when all is said and done, everybody had a good time and there are good memories imprinted on the mind. These paintings, then, are going to be those memories.


The canvas awaits
the touch of brush and color
that which makes it Art.

the canvas is blank
toned, but otherwise naked
like a writers page.

Once it is begun
it flows from start to finish
anxious to be born

but starting is hard
the first stroke, like the first word
the hard one to make.

And what will it be,
this art, a thing of beauty?
or perhaps ugly.

And of those who judge,
who will be kind, who will lie?
who will truthful be?

I will not judge it
beauty is in other eyes
other beholders.

I am the father
I will have given it life
I cannot be fair

It is up to you
you must call it good or bad
secretly, I know.


And now, please read the next paragraph and click on the links into Zoeyjane's site. Lets keep pounding traffic into her site so that the money from her ads adds up to something nice. Already the figure is over 180 dollars, including direct contributions. So keep it up. Please?

Zoeyjane of Mommy is Moody is DOING something. She is donating all the revenue from her advertisements on her site, for this month, to To Write Love On Her Arms. Go to Zoeyjane's site and read This Post. She gets paid by 'Impressions'. Just going there helps. Click on her ads - and help more. Click through to To Write Love On Her Arms and see what they do. Just doing that will help, too. This paragraph is going to appear at the end of each post, each day until the end of the month. As a reminder. Just click through. And help. Save the women and men and boys and girls that don't need to live without love, that don't need to suffer addiction and depression, that don't need to die.


Peace.

19 comments:

Jientje said...

Thank you sooooo much, I'm so looking forward to see what you'll create!! I'm a very lucky girl!!
As for me, I'm going to make something in lace. Modern lace, something small I can make a jewel out of, or frame whichever.
I have sorted out all of my stuff, which took me all day yesterday (there is a lot of "stuff" involved, believe me)and I'm now ready to try a couple of things to get the hang of it again. It's been fifteen years since I last created something, it's buried deep, but I'll figure it out!
Getting started is the hard part, indeed! But I'm very excited about it! Thanks again Lou,for the painting, but also for awakening that sleeping creativity in me!

Shadow said...

thank you thank you. will send it off when i get home. goodie, goodie. i'm so excited....

moneythoughts said...

Kind of like jumping into a cold swimming pool when you are dry and warm. I almost always sketch something out on a piece of paper first, as ideas for political art come and go in a matter of seconds. An envelope, a scrap of paper or even a paper napkin I have used to put down a sketch.

If you don't care for Ellsworth Kelly's style, you could try Marc Rothco or Franz Kline, or any of their contemporaries from the Abstract Expressionist School. You never know, you might just come up with a style you like. Art and painting today is so much more than representational art. :)

Christy said...

That is germane to relationships too!

Nice!

Cathy said...

Great haiku--I hate that feeling of staring at a blank page, and also the feeling of really liking something I've written and feeling vunerable to what others think.

Anonymous said...

I have some fresh canvases screaming my name from the closet... as soon as I actually finish all my schoolwork I'll get back to them.

Wait. What? said...

Nice haiku!

Joyce-Anne said...

I missed the haiku the first time (you were right-I wasn't reading your blog then). I appreciate the line "starting is hard". It is so true for me, sometimes simply getting started is the hardest part of the task.

Off to click.

Jennifer said...

great writing... as always. i love that you aren't going to judge your own art work... you are the father... the creator... so you can't really be fair.

does that mean that you would be too hard on yourself or like a parent of a child think that it is perfect?? just wondering.

i'm kicking myself for not being over here sooner to leave you comments and try to win some of your art. :( damn.

well anyway... i hope you post pictures of it so we can all see it. :)

i'm glad that you are going to be painting again. :)

enjoy.

xoxoxo hugs!

Unknown said...

Again... why I am not an artist. The intimidation between start and finish would do me in.

Anonymous said...

Lovely!
I'm looking forward to see what you come up with :)

Tara R. said...

Congrats to your winners! I'm glad you decided to Pay it Forward. I can't wait to see what you create.

Anonymous said...

Love the haiku.

I have, upstairs, a pad of paper and a set of watercolor pencils that I am holding for some inspiration. I just haven't found it yet.

Theresa said...

I think that's why I bought art supplies but they are still in the bag. The pressure!!

Momisodes said...

I'm thinking you nailed it. I am certainly not a painter, but I definitely relate to the writer anxiety. The first few sentences are ALWAYS the toughest part for me. Like getting the courage to get on a bike. :)

I'm sure whatever you create, it will be wonderful. And those who receive them will cherish it.

Unknown said...

Jientje: Im willing to bet your version of Bruges Lace will be lovely.

Shadow: I'm glad you're excited.

Moneythoughts: Yes. Just like jumping into a cold pool.

Christy: Thank you, Christy.

Cathy: After a while, you learn to trust your judgment (a little) and you don't feel quite so vulnerable. yeah, right.

Loraine: Be sure to do exactly that.

Cat: Thank you, ma'am.

Joyce-Anne: Thank you, Joyce-Anne. click away.

Jennifer: I'm always hard on myself - but I would judge it perfect, and I know it's not.

Hyphen Mama: You're a woman. You've had children!! You can face anything.

Nicole: Thank you, Nicole. I'm looking forward to seeing what I do, as well.

Tara R: I am glad too, Tara.

Ree: I hope you find it.

Theresa: Then just do something for you and take the pressure off.

Momisodes: Thank you, Sandy. I hope they cherish it - I hope it's worth cherishing.

Julie said...

I have been trying to remember to click over to Zoeyjane's and clicking around when I get there.

I really like your haiku too. I have started jumping in, writing that first sentence, cutting the fabric, choosing a couple of beads, without knowing where I am going, because I work better that way, and because if I try to work out exactly where I am going slooooooows me way down, and because it turns out really cool sometimes, far cooler than if I had not been winging it.

Patsy said...

Your haiku speaks volumns. I have never painted, but I have much the same feelings when I start a new bear. The hardest part is when I start to cut that first piece out. Once I start cutting there is no turning back.

I miss getting to you sooner in the day, but between work and life it seems I'm not on the computer nearly as much.

I still count you as a dear friend, just one I don't get to as often as I should.

Lola said...

Nice work, as always, Lou! I love your last paragraph, too, and I'll go help out right now.