Once
again, the 20th of the month rolls around, and, just as surely as we can rely on the inevitability of death or taxes, so can we count on the
start of the Nibblefest Art Contest.
The theme for January was a little
different this month, but interesting: "Five Random Things"....
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| My January Nibblefest Art Contest entry for the theme 'Five Random Things' |
'Five Random Things"??? I admit I had to ponder long and hard on it this month (who am I kidding? I have to do that EVERY month). Incorporating five separate, unrelated elements into one painting posed a little bit of a challenge. But of course as longtime readers will know, I always enjoy a challenge -- so when I found myself stumped for good and juicy subject matter (a 'Still Life' grouping might have been the easy(er) route? But no...), I looked for inspiration in my typical fashion: within the musical and literary influences that have resonated with me in my life. The musical ended up winning out this month, when the old song, "Into White", from the album "Tea for the Tillerman", by Cat Stevens, somehow randomly popped into my head. So much visual imagery in that one (definitely at least 5 things, and highly 'random' at that) -- almost too much really, in that I was worried at first about successfully making an appealingly cohesive composition for a painting. I actually rejected the idea several times, while trying to come up with some other, less obtuse, concept. But I simply couldn't get the song out of my mind no matter what I did (click here to hear song on Youtube) --
so, in the end I decided not to resist.....
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| "Into White" (9 x 12) |
To incorporate all 5 random elements I did work a little larger than I usually do for Nibblfest (at 9 x 12).
The following is my auction description:
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..."Into White"...
My entry for this month's Nibblfest Art Contest (NFAC) (~the theme for January being '5 Random Things') is an original acrylic painting on a 9 x 12 gallery-wrapped canvas. "Into White" is signed, with painted sides, and ready to hang. At 9" x 12", it is one of my larger NFAC entries....
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I built my house from barley rice,
Green pepper walls and water ice,
Tables of paper wood, windows of light,
And everything emptying into White.
A simple garden, with acres of sky,
A Brown-haired dogmouse
If one dropped by,
Yellow Delanie would sleep well at night,
With everything emptying into White.
A sad Blue eyed drummer rehearses outside,
A Black spider dancing on top of his eye,
Red legged chicken stands ready to strike,
And everything emptying
Into White.
~"Into White",
by the musician known formerly as Cat Stevens
When
casting about for inspiration for this month's theme, 'Five Random
Things', a song from my childhood came to mind. The youngest of four
kids, with my next oldest sibling seven years my senior, I recall the
dominant soundtrack of my youth being the numerous record albums my big
brothers and sister frequently played. One of those albums was 'Tea for
the Tillerman', by Cat Stevens, to which I loved singing along. His
song, "Into White", with its simple haunting tune and poetically surreal lyrics, never failed to send my youthful imagination into overdrive. My entry, with its 5 Random Things, is a little tribute both to the song, and my childhood memories of it.
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