October 12th

 

burgundy bursting

through the blaze of bronze and gold

a road edge lustre

When describing how amazing trees look at this time of year, I’ve so far avoided using “russet”. I’m sure that time will come! It’s hard to not be contrived… for me anyway!

October 2nd

 

the red rain of leaves

trees shed their summer colours

ready for the cold

June 16th

Cocksure foxglove spears

fleshy poppies abundant

augmented by rain

I ventured, bleary eyed, into the garden today. It’s absolutely teeming with colour. It’s wild and beautiful. The rain has fed these giant growth spurts, the poppies are weighty, the width of saucers. The flowers are gorgeous. And the smell of the rambling roses drifts in the air.

It helped to warm up my heart a little and inspired me to write a happy longer poem, which you can read on my other blog here.

March 28th

Magnolias in bloom

colours for the statesman’s stage

his stare set in grey

 

There is a statue of John F Kennedy near Marylebone in London. It’s in quite an odd part of London, the traffic roars past it and other than some scuttling commuters, I wouldn’t say it’s in a particular spot to bring anyone in contact with it.

However, it did have some beautiful magnolias flowering above it. A pic I took of them is above.

March 15th and March 16th

 

I’m publishing two days worth in one go today, the Haiku’s are so different, yet they seem complementary.  We’ve just been for a two day trip to London, where, interrupted by a wonderful visit to the theatre (The Ladykillers – very funny adaptation by Graham Linehan) we saw the exhibitions by two of the giants, in fact I would say, the top two British Artists spanning the of 20th and 21st Centuries. Namely David Hockney and Lucian Freud. It seems apt to publish the Haiku’s side by side.

Hockney’s exhibition at the Royal Academy is stunning in its colour and joy. Since his return to England from L.A he’s been painting every day in his native Yorkshire, capturing the change in the seasons. His work for Spring is just so heart warming and vivid.

(may blossom on the roman road 2009, 72in x 192in)

This painting captures the time of year Hockney calls “Action Week” where the transient Hawthorn Blossom appears and then swiftly disappears. It’s very poetic. This is a large painting, visually stunning.

My Haiku in humble appreciation of it, is below. I like the semi animalistic forms in the foliage too. And look at that sky. There’s something of the fairy tale about this work.

 

Hawthorn blossoming

Unbound spring bursts in the trees

Renewal brightness

 

Freud on the other hand, who divides opinion (I love his work by the way) has a retrospective of portraits at the National Portrait Gallery. This is the first major exhibition of his work since his death last year. I was discussing it with Debbie, but there is something of the instinctive, the animal in his work. And the capture of skin tone, it’s almost dead in pallor at times. But it feels real, raw and honest. I’ve used one of his own quotes in the last line of my Haiku where he talks about the importance of flesh in his work.

The Haiku itself relates to a specific self portrait “Self Portrait, Reflection 1981-82”. There is definitely something of the hunter about him in this, a bird of prey. His eye even looks like it’s pulled to the side of his head to give him a wider field of vision for observing his quarry.

 

Feral scrutiny

Tilted head hawk gaze devours

Paint to work as flesh

(from bridgemanart website)

 

Londoners or those in the region are fortunate that both exhibitions are running concurrently. I would thoroughly recommend both, for different reasons. They will be worthy of a proper post on my main blog in due course.

March 8th

Fishermen at sea,

Walkers under Turner’s moon,

Illuminated.

 

Neil and Paul came up from London and we all walked to the pub for dinner. The full moon was rising in the sky, it pushed its face through the broken cloud. It reminded me of a JMW Turner painting. This painting was exhibited when he was 21, in 1796. “Fishermen at Sea”.

(from the Tate website)

Painting the wilds of the sky, the elements, the sea and the wide open landscapes was his strength. His later work, when it is suggested that his eyesight was failing is perhaps his most magnificent. The use of colour, the blur in the unique style giving an impression of movement, blinding light, heat or cold, is breathtaking. But this early piece is majestic too.

As for a photo of the moon from last night, here it is. Over two hundred years later, if you look up, the sky is comfortingly timeless.

March 3rd

 

The art of seeing,

Shy colours revealed in light,

Patience rewarded.

 

Watched a BBC documentary about David Hockney, who is currently exhibiting some recent work of his native Yorkshire in the Royal Academy, entitled “A Bigger Picture”. He talked about the depth of colour in seemingly mundane scenes, somewhere which many would consider ordinary, not worthy of a second look.

All you have to do wait. And look. And that’s where the colours reveal themselves to you. He paints the same scenes throughout the seasons, in different weather and different light. Also at different times of day. The results are wonderful. I’m trying to do this myself too now (the “seeing” bit, not the painting bit!). We end up rushing everywhere, just a few minutes to take your breath and look and watch is so rewarding.

 

Hockney standing in front of one of his huge canvasses (actually 36 canvasses joined together!). Can’t wait to go later this month. Pic from the Telegraph website.