hyacinth painting

This is the photograph for the next painting. It’s of a hyacinth that was growing in the neighbourhood in the spring. I just loved the colours. I’m combining this photo with another one of leaves that I took in another garden. The drawing is done, I just have to mix the paint and start. I don’t have a verse to go with it yet. I’m sure I can find one, or write one.

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I started the painting. I like it so far. I’m combining the original photograph with another one of just leaves.

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These are tulip leaves in another garden. I wanted to fill in the bare earth background in the original photograph with more leaves.

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A closer look at layer one of the painting. I usually do at least 2 or 3 layers to smooth out the brushstrokes. I love purple and blue.

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Even closer.

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I painted some more of the leaves at the bottom of the canvas. I’m going to do the bottom flowers next so I can see what it looks like.

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One more flower done, and more leaves, and the sky. I’m basically painting the easiest things to reach first.

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Finally finished the first layer, on to the second layer. It already looks better. The second layer of paint always looks richer and smoother than the first. There will be a layer three though.

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I did another layer or two on the two leaves on the left, and the right hand side. Not happy with them yet. Close, but no burning tube of leaves, as they say.

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I’m still painting the leaves in the background. I’ll do the sky next, then the flowers. It’s taking a while, but it’s working out o.k.

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I made a T-shirt out of this painting, with the text from the poem ‘the gilded crown of lilies’ #764 v:13

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I made a t-shirt from the painting, and a mug.

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The mug with the ‘hyacinth’ painting on it.

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'boom' 2

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The bomb went ‘boom’,

I broke a tooth,

there’s not much else to say,

the tower gave its atoms to the wind,

and blew away.

I’ve seen the heart of suns #759 v:6 2020

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I started the next atomic blast cloud painting. I’m hoping it won’t take a wrong turn along the way.

I stayed up late and did the bottom part of the painting. So far, so good. This is looking the way I wanted it to look. The red/pink/orange background is going to be painted over with black paint so only thin lines of the colour will show.

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This is a close-up of the bottom part of the painting. This might actually work.

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The first layers of grey are on, with more to come. I started doing the black background to see if I liked the coloured lines or not. I think I do. If not, I’ll paint them out.

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A closer look at the black background. I think I like it. I’m not sure yet.

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Painted a layer of black over the background, leaving the coloured lines. I painted some blue circles and overpainted them to add a bit more colour. I’m making the dark areas darker, and the light areas lighter in places to add more contrast. I do like it.

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I did another 3 hours on the cloud. I think the top part still needs work. It seems a bit vague to me. I’m going to think about the background next. I might paint out some of the shapes.

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O.k., so, I added some flames. It’s basically finished now. I have to add another layer of black paint to the background to cover some of the small brushstrokes that show the colour underneath. Otherwise, it’s signed and tagged, so it must be finished.

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'boom' painting

I started the next painting, called ‘boom’. It’s from a black and white photograph of an atomic explosion I saw on-line. I just liked the shapes.

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Boom and crash shiver the house,

shaking the walls and canting the paintings

just a little off-kilter.

I swim up the chimney and take a breath,

wrapped in the persistent dreams

of tattered flags from unknown countries,

long forgotten in the inundation.

the patchwork animal #758 v:14 September 2020

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Two layers so far. I like the shape on the far right.

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The original photograph. I was going to do it in black and white and grey, just like the photo, then I thought, what if I added just a little bit of colour…and then this happened.

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The day before. Some of the basic shapes done with a larger brush than usual.

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I was up until 3 working on the painting. I like some parts more than others, so I’ll keep painting until I like all of them.

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And now for something completely different. I decided to go back to my original idea of a black and white image, with some colour. I thought it was getting out of hand with all the colour. I like this better, so far. It looks more like a cloud now. Not sure about the second area of pink and white. I’ll finish painting it and see if I like it. If not, it’s only paint, I can paint over it. This is why things take so long sometimes. I try something, and it doesn’t work out. For some reason, it’s the simpler shapes that give me a hard time. I did a painting of a peach that caused me the same problems, but then, the next painting of four peaches went smoothly. I don’t know why. This could end up being the same thing. I hope not. I really like parts of it. There’s a weird thing in the bottom left hand side I like. It was an experiment with some crackle paint, and it worked, so I kept it. I’m thinking it’s the exhaust from a rocket, to go with the boom cloud.

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A closer view of the right hand side. It looks more like a cloud now. I like the shape beneath it too. I’m going to try not to get carried away with the colour this time…

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Layer 7 of 20… Now I have to paint lighter grey and white areas onto the dark grey. I hope I like this. I like the black and white area to the right a lot more now. I doesn’t look so much like a fried egg anymore.

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What a difference a day makes…painted some parts out, and I like it better. Still a long way from right, but I like more of it now.

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Waaaaaiiiiitttt a minute….do I actually like this now? Really? How many layers did it take?

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A closer look at the bottom of the painting. I’m repainting the orange/pink shape in shades of grey, (only 49), and I’m changing the circle things to red. Man, I tell you. 20 more hours ought to do it.

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I stayed up later than I wanted to, but I was trying to do all the grey in the background. Now I can paint over the pink/orange bit in the middle. I really love the pink and white striped cloud thing at the top. I’m going to try to keep it. I still have a long way to go. I wrote a poem called ‘I’ve seen the heart of suns’, the word ‘boom’ appears twice, so I’m going to use one of them for this painting. I haven’t decided which one yet. Or maybe I will use another verse from another poem. It appears several times in previous works.

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And…. fade to black. Add some flames. Recalculate. Hmmmmm…. I think I like it.

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More work on the background and the flames. The top needs more work, it’s too dark. I ended up painting out the stripey cloud shape, even though I really liked it. I need to make a stencil of the word ‘boom’ with my Cricut. It doesn’t need to be too big. I’ll probably do it in a dark grey on the black background. There isn’t room to do the whole verse. There is another image I like so I might do another one.

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I added more dots to the painting, and two swirls. It still doesn’t feel right. It needs to have a bit more light grey in the body of the cloud. The tones are too muted. I added a little gold to the flames, which doesn’t show in the photograph. I haven’t done the text yet.

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O.k. so, what happened was… I still didn’t like it, so I painted the white ‘cells’ on top of the previous layer, then painted the insides of them grey, now I’m repainting patterns into them. This could take a while. I’m also fading the white to grey and dark grey at the edges, which works. I’ve stopped painting for a little while, so I can make a curtain for my kitchen. It takes over my whole studio table, so I can’t do both at the same time. Oh, for a barn/studio with lots of tables…

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Up late, as usual. The top part still needs more work, but it’s getting there, wherever ‘there’ is… It kind of looks like a night sky on the left hand side, where it’s dark.

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Resin projects

I’ve got some resin I want to try out. I went to Michael’s yesterday and got some glitter, and this cool skull mold. I can’t wait to try it out.

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This is the mold I got of some cool skulls. It’s a proper silicone mold for resin, so I’m hoping it will work fine. I have to think about what I want to put in them. I might do some plain, and maybe paint the back, I don’t know yet. I have a plastic heart mold from Valentine’s day I want to try too.

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This is half the heart. All the inclusions will be face down, but I turned them over so I could take the photograph.

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I got a rainbow of glitter too.

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I got these to make a couple of necklaces.

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I got these two small bottles with corks in them, and miniature playing cards. They can be a necklace too, or I can attach one to my charm bracelet.

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Two of the necklaces, poured. The skeletons were from Halloween cards I got last year, and the hearts are either from Michael’s or the dollar store.

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The third necklace, and a corned beef tin lid, with a plastic transparent skull sticker, dice, a watch spring, a heart jewel, and a piece of shell with some seaweed attached, and some glitter. I painted the tin white first.

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I poured too much into the mold, of course, and made a mess, but that’s me.

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The vapor mask.

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Two hearts, from a candy container from Valentine’s day. I sprayed them with Pam, so I hope they release. I won’t know until Wednesday afternoon. I hope they will have set by then.

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I also poured a small bottle charm, and a small box with some sand and a shell in it from New Zealand. The shell floats to the surface, so next time I’ll pour a small layer and let it set, then pour another layer so the shell is in the middle. I’m not taking it out of the box.

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I had to use a hook to pull them out, but they did finally let go of the mold. I’ll use more release agent next time. I really like them. I want to do an egg shape. I might have a mold in my studio somewhere. These have watch parts, and beads as inclusions. I’d also like a resin that cures faster than three days. It’s been hard waiting so long to find out if they worked or not.

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On the other hand, the little skulls and the necklaces turned out pretty good. I like them. I’ve been thinking about Halloween lately. I don’t know how that’s going to work with the pandemic. Things could be worse by then. There’s lots of candy in the stores. If I buy some, I’ll eat it, so I’m not going to.

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This is the corned beef lid assemblage, with a layer of resin on top of it. the heart jewel floated up off the surface, but I like it better like this. It has a clear plastic skull sticker from Michael’s, some red dice, a watch spring, and some glitter and a piece of shell with some seaweed attached to it. I have to put a wire hanger on the back somehow. I have lots of tins I could use. I like it.

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This is a small spiral shell I got from a beach in New Zealand when we were there in 2011. I’m leaving it in the plastic box. I’m not sure it would come out even if I tried to get it out. The shell floated up to the surface of the box, so I might pour a little bit more on top of it, so it’s submerged.

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utricularia painting

Started a new painting last night. It’s from a macro-photograph I saw on-line of a bladderwort called a ‘utricularia’. I really like the alien form and the colours.

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Started doing the colour on the right hand side. The inspiration photo is beside it. It’s taken me 7 hours to get this far, so now I’m thinking it’s going to take longer than I originally thought.

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A better view of the painting.

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A close-up of the work so far. It needs at least one more layer of colour, maybe two.

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I stayed up late doing the white lines, for the texture of the skin. They’re basically there as an under-drawing. The colour will change later.

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A close-up of the white lines. Now I just have to fill them in.

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I was up until midnight working on the painting. Just 5 more minutes… I like to finish a section if I can.

I had to get up early this morning, so midnight was late for me. I had to have a nap yesterday… All the white lines have to change colour too, so I’ll start that next.

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I started overpainting the white lines with colour.

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My magnifying light. I can see better with this.

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I stayed up late last night and did some more work on the painting. I spent a couple of hours this afternoon painting as well, instead of sliding off for a nap. It’s so addictive I don’t want to stop.

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I was up ‘til 2 working on the bottom section. I really wanted to stay up and finish it, but I still had to do the dishes, so I stopped. It really bothers me if I can’t finish something.

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Layer one, done. Now I can go around it again, adding more shading, and changing things I don’t like. I got two more canvases from Michael’s so I can start priming them for the next paintings. I submitted my work to the Bau-xi Gallery for consideration. I’m not really expecting them to respond, but it was fun to do. I would really rather sell prints of my work, than the originals, but then, I’d like to know how much my work is actually worth, and if anyone else likes it. They have a gallery in Vancouver my mother and I used to go to in 1973 and 1974, when I had braces and had to have them adjusted once a month. There’s one here in Toronto too, so I could be coast to half-way to the other coast.

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Starting layer two. This is the best photograph I’ve taken so far. There’s a high-contrast setting on my camera. It bumps the colour up a bit. The lighting in my studio isn’t good enough to take good pictures with. There always seems to be a shadow or a glare somewhere.

The response I want to have is: that kicks ass. Need I say more?

A closer look. I really like the dark green to light green shapes in the center, where they meet the dark red/blue shapes.

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I did 5 more hours work on the painting yesterday. It’s getting there. I like it. It’s very colourful.

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I did some more work on the painting. I didn’t like the right hand side where the pattern transitions from purple to orange, so I repainted it. There’s still one area that’s a bit too muzzy. I’ve started gessoing the next canvas. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet, I have lots of options, but I pinned a couple of photographs of atomic bombs exploding that I really like. They’re x-rays, so they’re black and white. I might think about doing them in colour instead. I haven’t made up my mind yet. They’d also look really good as large pencil drawings. I used to draw a lot when I was young. I didn’t even start painting until I was in my late 20’s. I still feel like I’m learning, and improving. I guess if that ends, it’s time to stop.

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This is one of the images from the internet of an atomic blast. I really love the shapes.

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This is another one. I like the little spikes on the bottom, and the shading.

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I’ve signed the back, so it must be finished. I’ll wait for a couple of days, then varnish it. It makes the colours look richer, but it’s hard to photograph without getting glare from the light. I need to take it outside to get better light for the photo.

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This is the back of the painting, signed, with its tag. The smirch at the bottom right is my thumbprint, just for fun. I keep thinking, in a hundred years, no one will know who did this.

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I sign the side of my work, if the canvas is deep enough. I don’t want the signature to detract from the image, which I think it would do if it was on the front. You can see some of my other paintings leaning up against the walls beside it in my studio.

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stone soup

I’m growing stones to feed the world,

there’s water for the soup,

and there you were, a burning tiger,

jumping through a hoop.

from the poem ‘stone soup’, #737 v:6

Art Nova

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I entered two poems, and ‘Lily, lily, rose’ was accepted.

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‘rapunzel’, painting of me at the house in Oshawa. This painting went with the poem ‘the house of luminosity’, which wasn’t accepted. I tried to send it, but it might not have gone through.

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The lily painting for the poem ‘lily, lily, rose’.

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On-line now.

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They sent another email asking for any information on recent projects, so I sent them images of the two books, ‘dancing down entropy street’, and ‘echoes in the void’.

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I have three paintings included in Art Nova’s Halloween on-line exhibit. It goes on-line on October 30th or the 31st. More details to follow.

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The ‘dancing skeleton’ painting on the Art Nova Halloween online exhibit. October 31 2020. From the painting for the poem ‘anchor’, also the cover of the book ‘dancing down entropy street’, through Amazon.

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Crystal skull painting for the poem ‘the blood angel’, from the book ‘echoes in the void’, through Amazon. Art Nova Halloween exhibit Oct 31 2020. ArtNova.com

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A detail of the collage for the poem ‘zenzizenzizenzic’, from the book ‘echoes in the void’. Art Nova online Halloween exhibit, October 31 2020.

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Paris Kitchen renovation

The before picture. Fridge and cupboards, with the pantry in the corner.

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All the kitchen cupboards are gone. This is where the stairs used to go up to the landing to the second floor. They have to stay, but they’ll be hidden inside the new cupboards.

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The before picture of the cupboards, sink and dishwasher. One of the main reasons we wanted to do this renovation was because of the ‘bump out’ on the countertop. It cuts into the floor space, and makes a small kitchen ( 9 x 11’ ) feel even smaller. The cupboards were nice enough, but the new layout will make a real improvement on the function of the space.

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This is where the old sink and dishwasher used to be.

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The old cupboards, and the stove and microwave.

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This is where the old cupboard and stove were.

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Cupboards and fridge.

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This is where the old cupboards and the fridge were. There also used to be an old built-in pantry, where the stairs are.

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Drywall over the empty space where the pantry used to be.

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The floors in the kitchen and hallway sanded.

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The hallway.

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First two coats of sealer on the floors in the hallway and kitchen.

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Top coat, still wet.

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Drywall mudded. Drying with the aid of a fan.

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The new cupboards in the front room.

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The new cupboards going in.

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The corner, where the pantry used to be.

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The corner where the old pantry used to be.

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The new pantry, and cupboards where the fridge is going to go.

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Where the old pantry used to be. Look at all that storage space.

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This is where the new sink, and dishwasher will go.

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The cupboards where the stove and microwave will go.

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The temporary kitchen set up on the dining room table. Chicken curry and rice.

The countertops are going in today. Pictures to follow.

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The corner, where the pantry used to be, and the new sink and a half. They still have to grout the joint between the countertop and the backsplash under the window. It needs a custom colour to match the countertops.

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The Lucent Calacatta #LQ5131 countertops and backsplash. It’s so pretty.

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The old pantry corner, and the new sink.

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The crown molding on the cupboards where the fridge is going to go, and where the old pantry used to be. The ceiling needs to be plastered to lower it to the top of the molding still.

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The crown molding over the cupboards where the stove is going to go.

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The crown molding over the cupboards where the old pantry used to be. This is the biggest gap between the top of the molding and the ceiling. The joint under the window has to be filled with a coloured grout still.

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The little corner cupboard with the crown molding. It’s so cute.

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Took some pictures with the better camera. It does a better image than my small camera.

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Waiting for the appliances to come.

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The last seam grouted between the countertop and the backsplash above the sink.

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The mud on the ceiling. Two layers. Now it has to dry, and then they’ll come back and sand it.

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The mud over the fridge wall.

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The new stove, which fits perfectly. It still has the protective blue film on it.

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And the new fridge, which also fits. We were worried it would look too big for the space, but it’s fine.

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But the dishwasher, doesn’t quite fit.

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Another picture of the stove. I’ll wait to take the film off after all the work has been done.

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Got the dishwasher to fit. Baseboards are going in today.

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Running hot and cold water.

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The dishwasher is in, but not plugged in yet.

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The microwave is in.

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I took the plastic off the fridge. It looks like a real kitchen now.

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'Art is the mirror through which the subconscious sees itself'.

Summoning mirror with burning candles.

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A photograph of my hat on the bench in the front hall. I like the two textures together.

the house of luminosity

From the poem ‘the house of luminosity’. #729 v:5 Hand-written text on lined paper.

You sneezed a grim ejecta from your heavy lungs

and coughed,

you smeared your face with soot and ash,

your banner, held aloft.

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‘rapunzel’ painting for the poem, ‘the house of luminosity’.

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The killing starts at six o’clock,

I hope you brought a gun,

you’re smug enough to shrug in your

democracy for one.

v:37

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My glasses fog with every breath,

I see how lost you are,

we waited while the lumpy muppet

smoked a cheap cigar.

v: 24

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grillzebo curtain

I’m making a curtain for the grillzebo. I’m painting a fern on the top, and a New Zealand pattern on the bottom. The canvas only has one layer of gesso, so the surface is rougher than I usually paint on.

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More leaves painted, and some of the background. Ooooh, it’s lookin’ good….

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Did some more work on the curtain. It’s slow, but it’s getting there.

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Finally made it to the bottom of the curtain. It needs another layer of paint, but it’s essential finished.

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The almost finished curtain, hanging in the studio.

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Finally finished the curtain, and it’s only August. I’ll let it dry for a couple of days, then varnish it.

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Sprayed the curtain with some spray varnish, and hung it up. There’s a pocket in the bottom for a steel rod. That should stiffen it a bit. It was a long project, but I like it. I’ll have to see if it works next. It’s supposed to block the setting sun from shining on the ceramic barbecue.

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corona poems

You’re the one who started this by leaving,

roaring drunk,

you, and your corona, and your

funky spunky junk.

from the poem ‘corona’, #712 v:9

included in the next book, ‘echoes in the void’.

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I took the sad machine to bits,

and sold it for its parts,

it’s bad enough we’re sober

in this time of broken hearts.

from ‘the cadence of our years’, #719 v:7 From ‘echoes in the void’.

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I cure my dull afflictions with

a little sip of bleach,

it numbs my dumb befuddled tongue,

and liberates my speech.

the dragon-slayer #724 v:14 for the book ‘echoes in the void’.

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You sneezed a grim ejecta from

your heavy lungs, and coughed,

you smeared your face with soot and ash,

your banner, held aloft.

‘the house of luminosity’ #729 v:5 from the book ‘echoes in the void’.

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Viruses replicate ten times a minute,

two become four, become eight,

I sickened on Sunday, and died on the Monday,

it must have been something I ate.

from the poem ‘into the limitless void’, #735 v:18 June 2020@

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Bones shake a fever to fight the infection,

I shook for a day and a half,

what started as some kind of visceral howl,

unbridled a baffling laugh.

from the poem ‘into the limitless void’, #735 v:19 June 2020@

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mirror/mirror

Blowing through the barren trees,

a dire wind of sighs,

a rage of bones,

a rage of bones,

a rage of bones to rise.

jo forrest 2020@ from the poem mirror/mirror

#738 v:43

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peony painting

Day 2 of the latest painting, from a photograph of a peony in the front garden. It’s 30 x 40” so it’s going to take a while, which is good, since I’m not going out.

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The painting in my studio, with the printed photograph I’m using as a reference. I printed it on 4 sheets of paper and taped them together, so I could see the details better. I love the image. I haven’t got any text to go with it yet. I don’t think I’ve ever written a verse with a peony in it. I can always write a new one. Of course, I ran out of coloured ink on the last page that I printed. Typical, isn’t it?

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Outlined all the leaves with black, then started painting the leaves green. This is my favourite part of the process, when I get to see what it’s going to look like. My next favourite part is finishing it. I’m keeping track of how long it takes me to paint, just so I have some idea. I’m trying not to stay up late, but it’s difficult to stop painting.

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A few more leaves done. Some of them only have one layer of paint so far, they need at least two or three to look finished. You always see the brushstrokes with just one layer of paint, unless the colour is mixed with white paint, which is why the peony looks o.k. with only one layer so far. The pink needs to be better blended together though, so I’ll do at least one more layer.

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Working on the large leaf on the left hand side of the painting. It’s slow, but progress has been made.

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Started the background leaves. They don’t take as long to paint. I love this, I have to say. I’m working on it for a couple of hours in the afternoon, and maybe an hour or so at night. I don’t want to stay up too late, but I still can’t seem to get to bed before 2.

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Started working on the leaves on the top of the painting. After they’re finished I can do the next layers on the flower. I know I say this every time I do a new painting, but so far, this is my all-time favourite painting.

I have a few good photographs of the peonies in the front yard, so I might have to do at least one more peony painting. I love the colours and the contrast.

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Stayed up late, as usual, and painted the first layer of green on all of the leaves on the top of the painting. At least the bare canvas is gone now. Pretty, even if I do say so myself.

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Added some lighter greens and yellow greens to the leaves to turn up the contrast a bit more. Still have to do more layers on the flower. I do like it.

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I think it’s finished. I’ll just have to sit and stare at it until nothing stands out as a mistake.

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A close-up of the flower. So gorgeous, even if I do say so myself. I want to do another one, but I’m painting a grillzebo curtain for my husband’s barbecue next. I wanted to paint the Eye of Sauron, but he said no.

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I took a better photograph with a better camera. Now I can varnish it.

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crystal heart painting

Day one of the crystal heart painting. So much more to do. So little energy. It would help if I could fall asleep at night sometime before 4:30 in the morning.

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Skipped ahead to the almost finished painting. This just needs some small adjustments, and the text.

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The text, done with my Cricut Maker. I mixed a darker shade of the background paint, and did two layers of paint through the stencil. It works fine.

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The finished painting with the text. I still have to varnish it. I’ve switched to a satin finish varnish. I find the gloss varnish reflects too much light from the windows.

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crystal skull, heart painting

Your heart’s made of glass, and your bones are transparent,

your dreams have no need for a bed,

your voice is a ghost in the chaos of sorrow,

but I can’t get it out of my head.

the keepers of memory #707 v:32

Started the next painting. It’s a painting of a crystal skull and a crystal heart that I own. It goes with the painting of the crystal skull for the new book, echoes in the void.

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Most of the background is done. I still need to do the top, behind the skull and the heart. I like it so far. I see a line that needs to be corrected, but otherwise, so far so good.

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A few more hours work. I’m keeping track of how much time this painting is taking, just for fun.

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Three more hours work. Lots to do yet. This one is going into the new book, which is progressing slowly, but steadily. It’s not as hard as my first book. Once I figured out how to use the Word program, it got much easier. That was a long upward learning curve.

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Finished, except for the varnish, and maybe a few touch-ups here and there. Well, it’s signed, so it must be finished. I’m going to use a satin varnish, and see what it looks like. I find the gloss varnish reflects too much light from the windows.

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Added the text. I made a stencil with my Cricut Maker, and stenciled gold paint through it, twice. I did a layer of black paint over that, thinned with some varnish, just to knock it back a bit. It’s hard to take a good picture.

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The original photograph. Taken at night, with a flashlight behind the skull and heart. They’re small, about two by two inches, more or less.

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echoes in the void - the new book, now finished.

‘echoes in the void’, book cover on Amazon.ca

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The finished crystal skull painting. The text took me two tries to stencil onto the canvas, but it worked fine the second time. The first time the transfer tape was too sticky and it wouldn’t let go of the stencil, which cut perfectly on the Cricut. I need better lighting to take a better photograph. The text reads:

Our hearts beat a mantra for love everlasting,

I miss the momentum the most,

bones are like words in the language of sorrow,

but a ghost is a ghost is a ghost.

from the poem the blood angel v:28

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The original photo.

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Glass skull and heart photograph for the poem ‘the blood angel’. For the new book ‘echoes in the void’.

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Ghost and bone, assemblage. Plastic found object from the beach at Longpoint, Ont. Wooden frame, wooden letters, acrylic paint, glue. I think it’s a plastic dryer vent pipe, but it looks like a windpipe to me.

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Almost finished. Needs a few corrections here and there, but I like it.

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The finished painting with the text. I like the colours.

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I’m printing the pages of the book as I do them, and I’m putting them in a binder, so I can keep track of what’s on which page. I have lots of poems, but I need images to go with them. I’m starting with all the paintings I have that didn’t make it into the last book, ‘dancing down entropy street’.

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The binder, in progress. This is the painting for the poem ‘the keepers of memory’.

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There’s a book-within-a-book. This is the inscription page for the poem ‘the rapture of the seraphim’. It’s an altered photograph of the top of a cake.

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‘eye see you’ assemblage. Shadow box, text dice, jewelry, plastic hearts, plastic eye, plastic top from a bottle of something, found on the road, squished; acrylic paint.

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For the poem ‘bones are just ghosts in a shroud’.

The world held its breath while the whole apparatus

ground to a shuddering halt,

the by-standers stood there,

with malice aforethought,

filming your deadly assault.

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I think I’ve finished the book. I keep writing new poems that I want to include, but I have to stop somewhere, so I’m stopping now. Maybe. There’s one more poem I might want to include, I’ll have to think about it. Then I get to upload it to my Kindle page, and see what happens to the architecture when that happens. I almost always have to make corrections to the layout to get the pages to look the way I want them to look. I’m not looking forward to that, but hey, maybe I did it right this time. This is the back cover for the book ‘the book of the dead’, vol. 2.

The last poem is a haiku, called ‘Empathy equals Memory

times the Sea of Love, Twice. (E=Mc2) I wrote it in 2015. It’s a mathematical haiku.

One two three four five

six seven eight seven six

five four three two one.

(Five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables).

The book has ended up being 150 pages, which is a good number. The last one was 144. Now I can start the next one.

The basic premise for the poetry is that every syllable is a musical note, and that even when you speak, you sing. If we didn’t, we’d sound like early voice synthesizers from the 70’s, so all speech is musical.

The first thing I had to figure out was that all syllables are not created equal. Stressed syllables are higher notes than unstressed syllables. You really have to write the words as musical notations. I did that with one verse at the back of the previous book, ‘dancing down entropy street’. I’m not a musician, so I got a program that writes musical notes from a computer keyboard to illustrate the idea. In the beginning, I didn’t appreciate this fact, and some of the poetry worked by accident, and some of it didn’t. It took me quite a bit longer than it should have to figure out what I was doing wrong. You can do short ‘songs’, or long ‘songs’. I like longer ones, because they flow better. All poetry is like bonsai. Sometimes you have to wire the branches to make a pleasing shape.

I say poems are like dreams, because you get the emotional truth without necessarily getting the facts. That sounds like I’m saying poems are alternative facts, but I’m not. The truth is the truth. Or maybe your heart has one truth, and your brain, another. Maybe they’re mutually exclusive. Or maybe they’re the opposite sides of the same coin. Either way, they’re metaphors for the real world. Poems to me are also like collages. They’re bits and pieces glued together to make a new image of something, like dreams. I do have underlying themes that come from ‘The Wizard of Oz’, and ‘The Garden of Eden’, and other myths and legends.

If you took all of the water out of the well, there would be a small object at the bottom, a blue butterfly, a wish to be remembered. A wish not to be forgotten. A hand-print on a cave wall, to say, ‘I was here’.

A burning of the clocks. A time machine. A divination of swans. A skeleton dancing in the dark.

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Fairy light halo photograph. Jo Forrest 2020.

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This is the photo of me for the back cover of ‘echoes in the void’. It’s the photo I took after the bit of skin cancer on my neck was removed. I’m standing in front of the ‘jester’ painting I did for the previous book, ‘dancing down entropy street’. I’m now struggling with uploading my files to the KDP website, on Amazon. I wanted to do my own covers, since I don’t like any of their ready-made templates. Progress is, as always, slow. I did manage to upload both the cover files and the contents of the book, but layout issues always show up at that stage, which need to be fixed. Hopefully, I’ll manage to upload it soon. Any day now… Then I can start the next one. No title so far. I’m sure it will come from a poem, as usual. I’m writing #733 now, called ‘love is a runaway train’.

‘A little bit crazy’, was how they described me, but fear without proof is insane, watch me turn hope into autobiography, love is a runaway train’.

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Finally. It only took me 6 hours to upload the file to my Kindle Publishing file, but it’s done. I poured a shot of something from the liquor cabinet to celebrate.

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Here is the Amazon page. The file is in review, so I’ll have to wait a day or so for it to be approved. Then I can order a copy for myself, so I can proof-read it in ink on paper. I did my best to proof-read it on the computer screen, but I always seem to miss a word or two. Still, it’s done.

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A close up of the Amazon page. I can’t tell you how relieved I am that it’s finally done. I burned my lunch, because I wandered off while it was uploading…but I don’t care.

Of course, I have to reformat the whole thing for the e-book. That’s next.

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I ordered a copy of my book ‘echoes in the void’, to proofread. I always find it easier to spot mistakes if it’s ink on paper, for some reason.

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The cover. It’s a collage of images of the funky 70’s light fixture in the basement stairwell, taken through my crystal ball lens.

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The blue light photograph.

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The book is now also available as an e-book. I had to reformat every page from a two-column layout, to a single column layout. I’m getting faster at that.

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Crystal ball

Photographs taken with my crystal ball.

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Crystal ball in the hedge behind the house. Snow in the background.

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Crystal ball in front of the mesh in the window in the back addition.

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Stained glass dragonfly window through the crystal ball lens.

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Cricut...say Cricket.

Got a Cricut Maker for Christmas. It’s out of the box, and plugged in, but that’s as far as I got.

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The box opened, and the Maker removed.

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This is the painting I want to apply text to. I think it will go in the bottom left corner.

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Managed to get this far, with the products included with the machine. Tried cutting a stencil from a clear vinyl, but it didn’t work. The letters didn’t stick to the mat. I’m going to have to get the proper vinyl and try that.

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Tried cutting a thick stencil vinyl from Silhouette, but that didn’t work. It didn’t cut through the vinyl. I changed the setting to ‘stencil vinyl’, but that didn’t work either. I have some Silhouette vinyl, which I think must be too thick. You can increase the pressure of the blade, but I haven’t tried that yet. I also ordered Cricut Stencil Vinyl from Amazon, so we’ll see what happens when I try that. It’s supposed to come on Saturday, but they often deliver faster than that, so I’ll have to keep an eye out for it. It cuts well, just not all the way through. Maybe the regular vinyl would work, but I didn’t buy any to try it. Not annoyed yet.

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I bought the proper Cricut Stencil Vinyl, and cut it, and stenciled through it. It turned out pretty good, there was some bleed under the stencil, which I touched up by hand. Next time I’ll try to make the surface of the canvas a bit smoother, or use a different technique for applying the paint. I kind of smeared the paint on with a brush, maybe I should have dabbed it on with a foam brush, which I have. Still, it took way less time and it looks a lot better than it would have if I’d painted it by hand.

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I need a better crisper image, but you get the idea.

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The bottom of the painting. I need better lighting in my studio to take photographs with. It did turn out o.k. though. Now I have to figure out how to upload a drawing into the Cricut design space to make my own stencil.

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Christmas magnolia wreath

I made a wreath for my front door from magnolia leaves I got from the grocery store. I flipped some of them over to the brown side, and painted stripes in gold, brown, black and cream on them. It took 2 1/2 hours, but it was well worth it. Every leaf is hand wired onto a twig wreath base. I’m happy with the way it looks, and it only cost me around $14.00 for the leaves.

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A closer look.

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Peace lily

This is the beginning of the next painting. It’s a dried peace lily flower, from a plant in the front foyer.

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Layer one of the orange paint. The gesso is tinted a light tan colour, but I’m going to paint over top of that.

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One layer of paint on the background. This one is going to have text from a poem, to be done later. I hear I’m getting a Cricut Maker for Christmas, so I’m going to wait and do it with that. Fingers crossed it turns out the way I want it to. It would definitely make it easier to do if it works. Hand lettering takes time and precision.

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A couple of layers later. I have a brand new Cricut machine, so I’m going to try to cut a vinyl stencil with the text on it, and see how it looks. It might take me a while to figure out how to use it.

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The stencil cut, and paint stenciled through it. I had to touch up some of the paint that bled through, but it looks fine.

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