The theme for this week’s 52-week Illustration Challenge is trees. I found this one a little easier than last week, but took a while to figure out how to present it. Hope you like the finished product.
A Poem and a Picture: Cross Hatching
The theme for this week’s 52-week Illustration Challenge is cross-hatching. I really struggled with this because, while this is supposed to be an illustration challenge, I’m participating by writing a poem on each week’s topic – a picture in words, if you will. But cross-hatching is a specific illustrative technique, and hence not so easy to write a poem about. I did have some ideas along the line of overlaying the words so they were cross-hatched, but struggled with how to do this.
Anyway, after lots of false starts I came up with a pretty rough little rhyme about cross-hatching. Here it is:
Cross-Hatching
I’m cross about cross-hatching
Cos I don’t know what to do.
I’m scritching and I’m scratching
My head and I’m feeling blue.
I’m cross about cross hatching
Cos it’s really hard to write.
My poem isn’t matching
In the way I’d hoped it might.
There. A poem about cross-hatching. But then, a little miracle happened.
I attended a session at the Perth Writer’s Festival on Sunday where awesome young illustrator Gabriel Evans (who just happens to be the illustrator for my forthcoming verse novel, Roses are Blue) was presenting . Anyway, Gabriel drew a snail on the whiteboard and commented that snails could have lots of different patterns on their shells – stripes, spots, squiggles. and so on. Suddenly, a little voice in my head said ‘cross-hatching!’
So, back at home, I had a go at drawing a snail, trying to remember how Gabriel did it. When that failed, I found an online tutorial for how to draw a snail: here. It took a few goes, but I drew a recognisable snail. Then for the cross-hatching. I had thought I would just cross hatch part of the shell – which is kind of the point of cross-hatching – to create shadow and contrast. But I found that it didn’t really work that way, plus cross-hatching is fun – so I did the whole shell. And, for the shadow effect, decided more cross-hatching was needed.
So, from someone who doesn’t draw, here is my attempt at cross-hatching:
Not planning on giving up my day-job any time soon, but am a bit proud of myself for trying something new.
A Poem: Blue
The topic for for this week’s 52-week Illustration Challenge is Watercolours. Because it’s an art challenge, but I’m participating by writing poems, I found this one tricky. Until I remembered something we used to do in primary school with paint and crayons. Here’s what I came up with.
I thought about tizzying it up a bit, but actually like the roughness of it.
A Poem: The Machine
The topic for for this week’s 52-week Illustration Challenge is Machinery. SO here’s my picture-in-words for the topic.
The Machine
It is big
It is exciting
Captivating and inviting
But I just have to ask
What is it for?
It’s got bits
Clicking and whirring
Go so fast my vision’s blurring
But once again I ask
What is it for?
There are crowds
Starting to gather
All a-blither and – blather
And they’re all wanting to know
What is it for?
Then it belches
Out some smoke
Clunks and bangs and it has broke
And now we’ll never know
What was it for?
Sally Murphy, 2014
A Poem: Flowers
The topic for for this week’s 52-week Illustration Challenge is Flowers. As always, my ‘illustration’ is a poem, though I did find a photo to add a little visual appeal. Enjoy.
If you want to say I love you
Then a rose will do just fine;
It can say I am besotted
And I’m really glad you’re mine.
If you want to say I’m happy
Then a gerbera will do.
It’s great to have an orange face
Smiling back at you.
A lily or a lilium
Might say I’m sad to hear
That you’re suffering the loss
Of someone you held dear.
A garden full of flowers
Can say all these things and more.
Take a walk along the garden path
And feel your spirits soar.
Poem: Selfie
The topic for for this week’s 52-week Illustration Challenge is ‘Selfies’. All the clever illustratory folks doing the challenge are posting wonderful self-portraits in all sorts of formats. As you may know, if you follow this blog, I joined the challenge on the proviso that I could write a poem each week rather than draw/paint/sketch, as my artistic skills are really non-existent. I figure that I can try to paint a picture in words, by inspiring mental images.
However, as I said, this week’s topic is ‘selfies’, and I was really stumped as to how I would do this using just words, though many of my poems are, at some level, about me. Then, as I cleaned my desk today I moved my magnet words and whiteboard and remembered writing a poem about myself with them last year. Rather than reuse that poem, I put my thinking cap on – and came up with something both visual and word-based. Hope you like it.
