A big bald eagle, just letting me watch him. Of course I had to make a fuss to Sydney on the phone about his arrival, and she was suitably impressed.

Thinking about this grand bird, about his soaring abilities, made me want to write a poem. Flight, death, soaring, life, all of it was floating around inside me. Then I found this.

It is my hope that Larissa can fly now.

©2010 Jill Berry Blog. All Rights Reserved.

This morning is it three letter words, a concept that I have worked with for about six years. Mighty little words. Today my words are “ART” and “SKY”, and I am looking up imagery for each of those words. Here are my canvases so far.

Only the "A" is finished.

Close up you can see my bird's eye map.

In searching for imagery for the word “SKY” both in my head and in all the books strewn around my studio, I suddenly remember a poem I found a few years ago when I was working with the same word. It is written by a Japanese poet, Shuntaro Tanikawa, (translated by Harold Wright, date unknown but probably 1960s). Coincidentally, Paul Klee has a painting he made in 1923 with the same name, Landscape with Yellow Birds. I present them to you here.

LANDSCAPE WITH YELLOW BIRDS
Shuntaro Tanikawa (1931-    )

there are birds
so there is sky
there is sky
so there are balloons
there are balloons
so children are running
children are running
so there is laughter
there is laughter
so there is sadness
so there is prayer
and ground for kneeling
there is ground
so water is flowing
and there’s today and tomorrow
there is a yellow bird
so with all colors forms and movements
there is the world

I am working on acceptance right now, and this poem speaks to me. There it is, just as it is, and we have to find the dreamy, beautiful parts as we sometimes wade through sadness. Here I am, painting in my own studio, and tomorrow I have to go and say goodbye to an 18 year old friend who died in a car. For now, I will find the beauty and gift of art here in my studio, while it is dark outside.

©2010 Jill Berry Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Books for my Artfest Classes

At the end of the week I got the good stuff. Katie Kendrick came to town to visit her new grandbaby, Jackson, and I went to meet her for lunch. It was a huge treat to hold that gorgeous little bundle and listen to his baby noise. Katie and I are the same age, and have lots of sameness in our lives, but my kids are 10 and 11. No grandchildren for me quite yet.

Katie and I headed out to lunch and yapped for so long I was late getting home. I met her last year at Artfest, and so enjoyed the class I had with her, mostly because of her gentle spirit, authenticity and great talent. This is an artist who works with everything, and her paintings are especially wonderful. She is interesting, smart and fun, and I hope you head on over to her blog and see that gorgeous baby.

In the middle of the night when I can’t sleep, I am reading MAPPING THE WORLD: Stories of Geography, recommended by my new friend Ellen. Interestingly, some of the stories are ones I tell in my map class. At about 5 am this morning I am reading about Jacques Cartier, who is said to be the one who discovered Canada. So Columbus discovered America (not really, but let’s pretend) in 1492. Cartier discovered Canada in 1534. It took 42 years to go north? Who discovered the nearly straight line of delineation between us and our northern neighbors? And Columbus, why didn’t he get credit for the whole continent?

My kids came up with the best solution for this ‘line of delineation” business. We were driving south, to New Mexico. There was a sign by the side of the road “You are Now Leaving Colorado”. A few yards later, another sign read “You are now Entering New Mexico”. One of the kids said, “that’s the line. In between those signs. It has to be big so you can see it from the sky.”

©2010 Jill Berry Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Some of this you can learn at Magical Midnight Stories at Art and Soul in Virginia in May. Some of it would be included in Journal Texting at Art and Soul in Portland in October. Or, you can just get out the Butterfly Pen (made by Jim Chin), Sumi Ink and watercolors and sit on the floor for some wild fun.

Here is the poem.

Poppies

Mary Oliver

The poppies send up their
orange flares; swaying
in the wind, their congregations
are a levitation

of bright dust, of thin
and lacy leaves.
There isn’t a place
in this world that doesn’t

sooner or later drown
in the indigos of darkness,
but now, for a while,
the roughage

shines like a miracle
as it floats above everything
with its yellow hair.
Of course nothing stops the cold,

black, curved blade
from hooking forward—
of course
loss is the great lesson.

But I also say this: that light
is an invitation
to happiness,
and that happiness,

when it’s done right,
is a kind of holiness,
palpable and redemptive.
Inside the bright fields,

touched by their rough and spongy gold,
I am washed and washed
in the river
of earthly delight—

and what are you going to do—
what can you do
about it—
deep, blue night?

©2010 Jill Berry Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Sam sent the dog outside saying “Teebo, wanna go out? Wanna go out into the world? Wanna go out into love?”

Sydney woke up and said “Mama, it feels like there is a whole world in my stomach and the continents are crashing into each other.”

My niece, Sophie and a large group of her friends memorized this poem. They were challenged to do so, but no one actually expected them to. When asked for volunteers, nearly the entire group of 11 year old kids stood up, and in unison, recited:

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

©2010 Jill Berry Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Yes

~ William Stafford ~

This is one of my favorite poems by one of my favorite poets. It is the middle of the night, and my head is full of ideas on fate. What I know is that we need to take the time to appreciate what is all around us, and, maybe especially, what isn’t.

©2010 Jill Berry Blog. All Rights Reserved.

As the sun makes it new 

Day by day make it new

Yet again make it new

—Confucious

Coincidentally I was drawing these houses that are scattered on the prairie that surround me. They are disappearing, in their numbers and in their bones. The wind blasts them, the sun bakes the stone and timber, the rain falls through their roofs and long broken windows. These prairies houses are sinking into the land that they came from, taking their stories with them. Nature will make a new soil for a new life. Yet again make it new.   

©2010 Jill Berry Blog. All Rights Reserved.

My daughter Sydney is nine and brilliant. Lately she has been smitten with Shakespeare, and copies pithy quotes on lined paper which I find around the house. Here is one of her favorites: ‘We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we’ll not fail.’ Lady Macbeth said that. Isn’t that a visual? “The sticking place” is something I could draw in my journal. This struck me this morning, as I was fretting about perfection, which just might be the opposite of courage, and worrying about being just the right mother, just the right teacher and artist. What comes to mind here is isolating the small things we can, and hanging onto them. That my daughter likes Shakespeare and pursues learning is a very good small thing. That she leaves Lady Macbeth quotes in the kitchen is delightful.

©2010 Jill Berry Blog. All Rights Reserved.