Diamonds

As a girl sitting in the backseat
of the '52 Packard    my nose
pressed the glass of the window    As

my father drove us through the
Country Club Plaza    As
    I dreamt
of living there
when grown and
sleek and
independent.

As a woman with a career,
I moved from Iowa to a job
within blocks of the Plaza    and
I lived on Ward
Parkway across from Brush
Creek    in an elegant brick
building named Carlyle,
after the poet.    And

I became a poet
while living on "Poets Row"
walking romantic evening walks
through streets lined with
diamonds.

Enchanted, I drove from work to home
through the Plaza holiday lights    and
sometimes wept with joy    As

I was finally, really home    As
life turned simple amongst ornate mosaic towers and
red tiled roofs of rose stucco buildings.

I was where I had always wanted to be --

Imagine, dreams waking as you walk through them
You live in them    As they happen    and
they become
no longer dreams.

8 Layers of Words

This is the final web copy of the 20 inch square I contributed to the ARTS collaborative project. Soon all 9 pieces will be placed next to each other for the first time. All artists work independently toward one goal: a finished work of art within one construct.

The first words

The first layer of words sets the design for the total of all layers. And, meaning matters. Even though the literal text turns more to design then to reading matter, the essence of the word remains. Words can be read, changed, exchanged, erased, written using various means on enumerable surfaces, but the first word stays, is imprinted into the whole of the art. Therefore, trust the language used to form the base of what is seen when the sound of writing is over. In this case, Country Club Bank has stated well it's basic principles which I replayed as the only text for this piece beginning with "Strength Trust Stability: Where roots run deep, relationships grow strong."

WordLayers before words

I knew the colors, originally. Coral and dark turquoise and sky blue. Now, I had something and I loved it tremendously. I'm working on a small notebook computer with a 10" screen. In preparation for final output, I will work with 300 pixels per inch. I can go no higher with my simple equipment--scanner, computer and printer. So, I see this creating of art through a small lens blown big. I comb through the strands of color. I comb through the strands of the words to come.

Mediterranean Image

I have been working hours and hours on our ARTS group collaborative, our third. Nine of us, each armed with a clean 20x20 inch canvas, a black and white image of a bank logo printed on paper, and an individual 2" square piece of that logo.  In sharp contrast to the Bear image, our new project contained distinctive lines of Mediterranean architecture and spaces of arches. 

This is the image we were given. A tower typical of those found on Kansas City's Country Club Plaza. We divided the paper copy into 9 squares and selected who had what out of a hat. The piece to the right of the tower image is my draw of the whole. I scanned it into my computer and it measures 2x2 inches and doesn't look like much to build upon, which could be a good thing. I began this project with nothing and carried that around with me for at least a week. Playing with nothing keeps a creatively turned mind, busy. Fear and hope--moving toward a 20 inch square canvas.

8 directions

His surefootedness convincing -- all stocky
And slow, all fur and big pawed
Plump from the fullness of summer.
The earth is brown with green forest floor walked
Upon not only by big bears -- also rabbits and
Deer, squirrels and elk, hikers and horses.
The scene scans full with thought, imagination,
Description. Look here through artistic eyes -- 8 directions,
Observations and creative strokes.

The Image of Bear

I have finished the visual art of Bear. Every word of poetry weaves through image in color and design to round off a thought. During this project, my heart has been in the heart of Bear. I fell in love with the Bear that began as an image on the computer, a bank logo, in fact. And, tomorrow, I slide on icy roads to the printer to pick him up. He will be released from computer and digital drive to the open world of canvas where he can walk out and about. My part of the whole, for, eight of us have collaborated on pieces of Bear and now each 20" by 20" square will be hung as one, to be set free — Bear will then be experienced in the eyes and minds of those who see him and he will stay with some, for a moment, and remembered by some, later. And, we will speak of him, immediately full of joy and exuberant conversation and then he will walk the path of unending creative thought.