Landscape
Mixed Media on Canvas
Students - once again, it's been a delight to take part in
SPARK...SPARK 15! This time I was lucky enough to be paired up with artist
Paula B. Lantz, and she gave me permission to choose any of her work from the
Touchstone Gallery to spark my writing. I so enjoyed browsing through her work, and when I saw the painting above, I knew it was the one!
Writing from art stretches a whole new part of one's mind, and I highly recommend it as an exercise. You might find a shoe box and collect postcards from art museums or gather quirky pictures that somehow speak to you... Then, if ever you think, "I have no ideas," you can simply pluck a picture and see where it takes you. I have learned this from SPARK.
In writing today's poem, I worked to focus especially on color, to use color words all along the way. Last year, a teacher friend shared some of his students' written stories with me. Michael's story detailed a memory he had of a girl throwing up on his bus. What struck me was his use of color:
face purple like a grape, white like snow... When I wrote this poem, I tried to write like Michael. Try that sometime; write with color words.
Many thanks to
Amy Souza for again putting together a wonderful opportunity for artists, musicians, and teachers to collaborate in this way. This is my
fourth time participating, and each time is nourishing and exciting! All are welcome to participate, and I encourage you to check out the website and the pieces. Too, Amy Souza, teacher
Jamie Palmer, and I still plan to get a small SPARK KIDS going this spring. More details to follow.
I will share Paula's response to my poem tomorrow, Saturday!
In other writing news, this week I have a column about ears and holes in the
"My View" column of THE BUFFALO NEWS.
Thank you to Ruth Ayres of
Ruth Ayres Writes and
Two Writing Teachers for her generous sharing of both notebooks and writing process this week over at
Sharing Our Notebooks, a resource for teaching students all about notebook keeping and for the nosy among us to peek into others' notebooks.
Jone is hosting today's Poetry Friday over at
Check It Out. Check it out!
(Please click on POST A COMMENT below to share a thought.)
