Dawn Whitehand: Visual Artist
poetry
National Poetry Writing Month – NAPoWriMo
April is National Poetry Writing Month and I have been participating over on my Poetry blog where I publish a poem and a drawing inspired by the poem.
My poetry blog has been going for a few years now, but I haven’t published much this year, until this month – so hopefully participating in this daily challenge will get me back into a more regular routine!
Following is a sample of some of the drawings I have been publishing – but you’ll have to visit my blog to read some poetry!
Happy reading š
April – National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo
April is National Poetry Month where poets from around the world write a poem a day and post it somewhere on social media – Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Instagram, Tumbler, the choices are endless (although one could participateĀ as a personal challenge and not share on social media, of course). The idea behind social media, though, is to network and connect, and also read some of the great work of others working in this literary space.
As regular readers may know I also have a Poetry & Drawing blog. It began as a poem and drawing a day blog, and after one year of posting I scaled it back to posting weekly. But in April I try to write daily for theĀ National Poetry Month.
So far I have been successful in posting daily (despite extending my studio, which will be the subject of this weeks Sunday Studio Visit, so stay tuned)!
My poems are always accompanied by an original drawing by me inspired by the poem. The drawings range from abstract art to realism to digital art. I will leave you with a small gallery of drawings, and to read the poems that accompany them check out my Poetry Blog š
Sunday Studio Visit – bits and bobs
There’s not much happening in the studio today – I still feel a bit (guiltily) in holiday mode because my teaching hasn’t resumed – but that will all change this coming week, with classes resuming.
And that was was one of my tasks today – doing some last minute promoting of the classes by sharing on Facebook and creating a blog post for the ClayMotion classes… that’s the name of my teaching business. Classes are almost full, but a few more would be great!
Blog Post
Despite not teaching and doing a bit of January relaxing IĀ have kept myself a bit busy and creatively motivatedĀ by participating in a couple of challenges over on Instagram. I shared a few of my pics in an earlier post and intend to share some more soon, but in the meantime you can visit my IG account to check out my pics HERE.
I managed to write a poem and complete an accompanying drawing too, which you can check out on my POETRY BLOG
I also packaged up a a couple of ETSY orders so that IĀ can post them tomorrow … I like to take care with my packaging, make it attractive – I think this shows the customer a level of care which is important for customer relations, I think.
And speaking of ETSY, Valentines Day is only a few weeks away and I have some great gift ideas for him and her, plus some gorgeous tableware for that intimate romantic dinner … later on today I hope to list a few more goodies š
Well, that’s about it for this Sunday…. see you during the week š
I’ve been published!
I have been writing poetry on an off since I was a teenager, but began to write regularly again a couple of years ago after a long break – kids, etc…you know the drill!
When i began writing again I added a twist to my poems though by also creatingĀ an accompanying drawing, and I made a new blog to publish these new creations on.
During that first year I wrote a poem and created a drawing everyday; I also participated in National Poetry Writing Month and made it to the top five favourite wordpress poetry blogs for the month!
After that first year I dropped back to writing about once a week, which was less manic and more manageable, as I also do lots of other ‘art’ stuff as well, as regular readers will know.
Now to the point of the article – on the last day of 2014 I made my new years resolution, and it was to get a poem published, and I am happy to say it has happened!
A new ezine Felan put a call out for drawings and poetry for their first publication and the theme of love… now I am a bit of a dark character and fluffy love isn’t something I write about, but dark love is! So I entered three poems and drawings for consideration. I was lucky enough Ā to have one poem and all three of my drawings selected for the first edition!
The ezine is absolutely beautiful to look at and the poetry is incredible. Copies are available for electronic download or a hard copy can also be purchasedĀ HERE.
pen on handmade paper
As part of the promotion process contributors were also interviewed. All the interviews give an insight into the writers and their inspirations and processes and are great reading. You can read my interview HERE.
I am really proudĀ to have been selected for this first edition and happy that I achieved my New Years Resolution – andĀ I do hope to have more publications soon, so stay tuned š
Sunday Studio Visit : a miscellanous day
I’m not working on anything specific this Sunday so today’sĀ visit is a bit more general, looking at the day to day stuff that IĀ do in the studio.
As some readers may know IĀ also teach classes and workshops from my studio ( I also visit schools and businesses for workshops), so today I unloaded the kiln from a firing I did a couple of days ago and reloaded it with a bisque firing, which I then fired. A bisque firing is the first firing in the ceramic process, which hardens the clay body so that is able to be glazed – it is less porous and easier to handle without breaking.
Most of the work in the kiln was students, though I did put in some terracotta beads and marbled pendants I recently made, plus the “Made by Nature” series, which was the subject of a Sunday Studio Visit post a couple of weeks ago.
I also did a bit of marketing – Facebook, Twitter & Google+ – it can be so time consuming when you are self employed!
I also have a poetry and drawing blogĀ …. so today I wrote a poem for that and began a drawing… the drawing began its life as a ‘join the dots’ from a previous drawing I did in my journal, which is made of handmade paper. The previous drawing was createdĀ using permanent ink pens, which are kind of like ‘posh’ textas which can bleed on unsized paper. So some of the marks from the previous drawing bled through to the next page, which IĀ then used as a starting point for todays drawing….
Apart from that it has been a gorgeous weekend here in Dunnstown with the amount of birdlife being mindblowing…. Parrots, Kookaburras, New Holland Honeyeaters, Wattle Birds, Blue Wrens (& a koala) and the family of magpies currently living on our property – two parents and three babies!! They are so amazing to watch and come up really close without worrying about us at all, which I love that they don’t see us as a danger, not even Eddy (the rescue dog) …AND so cute to see that alot of the bird life is drinking from the water feature we installed in the garden two years ago – yes, handmade by me!!
My Poetry Blog and NaPoWriMo
What is NaPoWriMo you may ask?
National Poetry Writing Month… and that month happens to be April, which is this month!
So, over on my other blog I have been busily writing a poem every dayĀ – but of course because my blog is about poetry and drawing, I have also been creating a drawing everyday – pastels, wax, digital, charcoal, whatever strikes me at the time.
April is quickly comingĀ to a close, and while it can be difficult to produce a poem and drawing everyday, what will I do without this new routine?
Readers of my poetry blog will know I went though this conundrum whenĀ I changed from writing a poem and drawing every day to once a week – which I did after blogging every day for twelve months.
It was during this first twelve months that I participated in my first NaPoWriMo challenge – I was writing every day anyway, so why not participate?
And much to my surprise at the end of the month I was listed in WordPress’s top 5 poetry sites for NaPoWriMo 2013!! An amazing feat considering the numberĀ of poetry bloggers out there in the cybersphere!
Anyway, back to the point…. I am participating again this year, after being used to only writing and drawing once a week, so it has been a bit more of a challenge to get the ‘routine’ happening, and no sooner have IĀ perfected it (?) than the challenge is over :-/
Oh well!
For those readers that have not yet checked out my poetry blog, here it is:Ā http://apoemandadrawingaday.wordpress.com/
Or, if you would just like to look at some drawings that accompany the poems here is a small gallery of images… more are on the poetry blog… enjoy š
Collage: Wax and Paper
Do you think I need new Pastels?
As followers of this blog will now it was my birthday a few months ago, and as well as receiving some charcoal pencils I also received a set of Derwent wax artbars from my partner. Most of the time when drawing I use pastels, and they were (and still are) looking pretty sorry for themselves, so to receive a new medium was a welcome challenge.
I found that I really enjoy the texture of the wax bars, they are so different to pastel. These bars are also water soluble, but I haven’t experimented with this quality much as yet. The texture of the wax, as I was playing with them, seemed to lend itself to creating collages – in my head anyway, so that is what I began creating.
I also have a second blog dedicated to poetry and accompanying interpretive drawings, so I began making collages to sit beside my poems, which you can viewĀ here. If you click on the collage category you will be able to view the poems that are linked to each drawing.
In the meantime, below are some of the collages created so far using my wax bars and paper – mainly containing text.
My next task is to explore the water soluble properties of the wax bars – so stay tuned š
Charcoal Drawings
It was my birthday at the end of May, and one of the presents I received was a set of Derwent tinted charcoal pencils from my partner. He also gave me a set of Derwent wax bars and some earrings (yes, he’s a keeper!).
Of course receiving pressies like this means using them! As some regular readers may know I have another blog where I publish a poem and drawing every day. The drawings are meant to be fast responses to the poems with the intention of developing them further in the future for exhibition or a similar project.
Because I already have this blog happening the logical thing to do was to play with my new art supplies while responding to the daily poem.
So, below are some recent drawings and sketches, and each one has the link to the poem it represents beneath it.
Perhaps my next post will showcase my new wax bars š
Poem Link: http://apoemandadrawingaday.wordpress.com/2013/06/30/day-three-hundred-and-forty-one-29th-june-2013/
I made it to the NaPoWriMo 2013 Five Favorites
As some readers may know I have been participating in National Poetry Writing Month aka NaPoWrMo on my ‘other’ blog, along with thousands of other obsessed writers.
Upon waking this morning and logging on to my WordPress account I found that I had made it to the WordPress top 5 for the challenge – woop woop!
I think I may have bubbles tonight!
A Poem & Drawing a Day Project – Just Reached 100 Days!!
Back on the 24th July I got this crazy idea to start a new wordpress blog documenting myself writing a poem a day, and creating a fast and responsive drawing to the poem…. a drawing which could possibly be further developed at a later stage, perhaps in a larger format.
Today is Day 100!
And it had been a very interestingĀ experience.Ā While I enjoy recording my thoughts, writing a ‘poem’ every day takes a fair amount of dedication and discipline, and then a drawing on top of that…
It has also been enriching, however. Purging can be veryĀ therapeuticĀ I have discovered! So purging on a writing AND drawing level is doublyĀ therapeutic!
Below is a slideshow of some of the more recent drawing inspired by the poems of the past 100 days. Under the slideshow is a photo gallery of the same images – so view whicheverĀ formatĀ you prefer. Enjoy š
This work by Dawn Whitehand is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.