Carpe Diem #753 arts

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today's prompt arts I had some trouble with. I couldn't get the relation with summer and arts, because in my opinion arts is something for every season, but as I read the haiku on arts by Jane herself I started to understand it. Arts ... are really most specific for summer. Summer is the season for living outside your home, to go into the forest, into nature and summer is in any way the perfect season to shoot wonderful photos or paint gorgeous "open air" paintings. Or the wonderful colors of e.g. the mountains touched by raindrops .... yes I think summer and arts are perfect together and I do understand now why Jane has included arts as a modern summer kigo (seasonword).

Haiku and art are in a way bound together and I even have tried to bring a special feature here on CDHK about art and haiku, maybe you can remember "Carpe Diem's Arti-visual Haiku". I have just done that feature once and maybe I have to bring it up here again. Here is the goal:

You may choose a piece of art, that can be a painting, a sculpture, a photo or something else made by for example Vincent Van Gogh, but it also can be an art-piece made by yourself. Maybe you are a painter or a photographer. You may also use a piece of art which you have made especially for this feature.

The artwork you use must be the inspiration for your haiku. So for this episode you may use for example a sculpture which you have made yourself, but there has to be a classical or non-classical haiku inspired on the art-work in your post. I have given you the prompt arts for today, but there is no need to use it. You can decide for yourself which prompt or theme you will use, but it must have to do with summertime. Feel free and share also your own art-work as I will do myself.

Of course I love to share a few haiku by Jane in this episode:

covered with pollen
looking deep into a flower
camera lens

holding the day
between my hands
the new clay bowl

waterfall painting
dripping enough water
to tint the rock

© Jane Reichhold

Credits: photo © Chèvrefeuille

The above photo I made myself. It's the city park just around the corner. This park is a nice place to be in every season, but I enjoy it mostly in summer. You can go fishing there, do some sunbathing, swimming or just go there to sit down in deep silent meditation. This (above) photo you maybe have seen earlier that's correct as you have visited my personal weblog once, than you could have seen it, but it's also at Wonder Haiku Worlds, an international website on haiku and other poetry forms.

I have written several haiku inspired on this photo, and I used it as the cover for my first Dutch haiku-book titled "Deep Silence" (or in Dutch "diep is de stilte"). The haiku which I composed than (2009) was inspired by this photo:

silence
in between worlds
the city park

© Chèvrefeuille (2009)

I have another photo of this wonderful city park, it's taken from another angle to show the beauty of the park.

© photo Chèvrefeuille

waterlilies reach
from the mud to the bright sun
straight through the water

© Chèvrefeuille

I am looking forward to all of your responses on this episode of our Haiku Kai. This episode will be open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 15th at noon (CET) (24 hours longer than usual). I will try to publish our new episode, meadow, later on. For now ... just have fun, be inspired and share your responses with us all here at our Haiku Kai.

Carpe Diem's "Arti-visual" Haiku #1

Credits: logo

Dear haijin, visitors and travelers,

As I started writing haiku in the late Eighties ... I also started painting, drawing and photographing to become inspired to write haiku. While the years past by I remained to photograph, but painting and drawing I let go just of lack of time and because I would try to become a better haiku-poet.
Now ... several years later I love to bring artwork back into my haiku writing and so I created an all new feature for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.This new feature is all about art and therefor I have named it Carpe Diem's "Arti-visual" Haiku.

The goal of this new feature is as follows:

You may choose a piece of art, that can be a painting, a sculpture, a photo or something else made by for example Vincent Van Gogh, but it also can be an art-piece made by yourself. maybe you are a painter or a photographer. You may also use a piece of art which you have made especially for this feature.
Your used artwork must be the inspiration for your haiku. So for this new feature you may use for example a sculpture which you have made yourself, but there has to be a classical or non-classical haiku inspired on the art-work in your post. For this feature I will not give a prompt, you can decide for yourself which prompt or theme you will use. Feel free and share also your own art-work as I will do myself in this first episode.
This new feature will be published once in a month, so this first episode runs to October 11th at noon (CET).

Let me share my art-work for this very first episode of our "Arti-Visual" haiku feature. This first art-work I have made recently and it was inspired on the paintings by Mondriaan (a Dutch painter, who used mostly red, yellow and blue colors in sleek designed paintings). I will first give an example of his work hereafter.

Credits: Tableau by Piet Mondriaan (Dutch website)

I like this sleek style of Mondriaan and I also like his choice for only the primary colors, red, blue and yellow.

And here is my "painting" inspired on Mondriaan:

Mondriaan inspired cobweb © Chèvrefeuille

This art-work inspired me to write the following "Arti-Visual" haiku:

morning dew shimmers, 
the sun climbs into the sky -
colored cobweb

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... it's maybe not a strong haiku, but I liked composing it. And ... it was fun to share one of my new paintings ...
I hope you all like this new feature and I hope to see wonderful art-work and read wonderful "Arti-Visual" haiku created by you all my dear Haijin, visitors and travelers. Have fun!

This episode of Carpe Diem "Arti-Visual" haiku is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 11th at noon (CET).

Carpe Diem #542, Tapestry

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I have to apologize to you all. Why? Well let me tell you. As I was preparing our prompt-list for this month I was reading the Dutch version of “Sand and Foam” and while reading it I ran into wonderful prompts for example, in Dutch “kleed” which means “to dress”. I, however, translated it into ‘tapestry’, our prompt for today. So for today I sought the whole book “Sand and Foam” through, but (of course) couldn’t find “tapestry” in it, because I had translated it in the wrong way.
But … I have decided to use “tapestry” for our prompt today and I take the opportunity to lift a tip of the veil to give you all a look inside my personal philosophy. 

Credits: Maximo Laura (Tapestry artist)

 Life is like a tapestry

The creation of a tapestry starts at the beginning with an empty weaving loom. The weaver sits in front of it and meditates and contemplates about what he/she would like to create. Is it just a piece of art-work or does it have meaning? It doesn’t really matter. The weaving technique is the same (I think), but the result can be so much different. After he/she has decided what to make he/she will make a sketch and decides which colours, which material and which technique will be used.
Than he/she starts to create his/her tapestry and while looking at that process one can see how the tapestry becomes as was the idea … the colours are coming together making patterns, creatures, flowers and so on are becoming real … at the end the weaver sits back looks at his/her work and will smile, maybe will applaud and yell “eureka!” Another wonderful tapestry has been created and can be sold … or just put on the wall at their home. 

Credits: Eyes On Nature (In Textile-Art)

What has this to do with that tip of the veil to give a look inside my personal philosophy? Well … I will tell you.

I think that our lives can be compared with a tapestry. As we are born the Weaver (God or Higher Self) starts his work with us. He looks at us and sees our future already, but he doesn’t know how our path would be going … which decisions we make … say ‘karma’ … The Weaver cannot interfere in our life. We are making our own mistakes, making the wrong decisions and so on. But … the Weaver has an idea about our lives. He has a design in mind for us and that design he starts weaving on his weaving loom.

tapestry of life
flamboyant colours all over -
awakening

© Chèvrefeuille

Our life is a tapestry and in every tapestry there are little faults or mistakes, but those faults and mistakes have their charm also, they make the tapestry unique … our lives are unique … we all have goals in our lives and we all hope to reach those goals. Sometimes such a goal is in reach, but it can also be out reach … Than we have to re-design our goals and start all over again with our path … In our life we will come across various paths, ways, waters, countries and crossroads … on every crossroad we have to decide which way we will go … all those choices are part of the design the Weaver has in mind for his tapestry, for us. 

Credits: Pheasants (Japanese Tapestry-Art)

At the end of our lives, our loved ones will look at our tapestry and the Weaver looks at it also. Our loved ones and the Weaver are in my opinion the same entity, the same energy. Because those who are around us, living as well as deceased, are co-workers of the Weaver. I believe that we all are planted in the right surroundings, in the right families, in the right countries and in the threads of the tapestry of life.

tears in my eyes
as I look at my tapestry -
it was great!

© Chèvrefeuille

Well … call me a nutcase or a philosopher, but it’s just my idea about life. And I think it sounds great. Would be awesome to look at that life-tapestry at the end of my life and see what life has done to me … I think I would be proud, I would cry of happiness … because … I lived my life as I had planned.

I hope you did like this post and I hope you will forgive me that I have told you a little bit more about my personal life and philosophy. I had to come up with something ... (smiles), because of my wrong translation as mentioned above.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until August 21st at noon. I will try to post our new episode, our 22nd episode of Ghost Writer, later on.