sparkling lights, Barbara's birthday and 2010 ends warmly

NEW YEAR' S Evening Day
The lights in the porch are glowing brightly now that the sun has set (we should change the timer to accomodate the later sunset) and we're looking forward to a quiet evening at home. We started the day with Mary and Bud for breakfast,toasting Barbara, saw Jim Mc,  went to the beach with Deezel and then to Michael's and Barnes and Noble.
 I got several new stamps and stamp cleaner, a new sketch books for 365 Haiku 2011 and  for Art Journal MMXI  - I love how Google has the new year in Roman numerals.....

My MMX Art Journal needed a Table of Contents and a brush up for NewYear's Eve's page...and it's done.  I love reviewing the work and giving pages titles.  I'll photo a few pages and post them.

It's just the two of us tonight. We have had Anne, Bruce and Ila for Trivial Pursuit and Chinese several years' passed. Well, now it's just us. It looks like the Roger/Bruce situation might be resolved next week, since Ila only retires once.

Earlier, we had some time outside, since the temperature hit 50 this afternoon. Deezel wanted to play . I threw a few snowballs for him. Buck Wheat prowled the rock pile for mice then picked his way to the screenhouse following the footprints we had made.

                                                         HAPPY 2011
Tomorrow, NewYear's Day with Nancy and Roy in Northwood.
This Haiku will be #1 for 2011 (MMXI) . The date tomorrow is one, one eleven..... 1/1/11.
                              
                                                  DAILY HAIKU 2009
                                     
                                    Incredible moon
                 rises, full beyond the spruce
                                    dusted in white light.

This drawing with pencil, colored pencil and marker celebrates a lovely evening to end the year and start a new one.
The text/verse will be # 1 for 2011 (MMXI)
Let's look for much happiness, love and peace for the NewYear. And thanks to my family and dear friends for their love and presence.

Decisions about the next project

Well, we found out about the lump on Buck Wheat. It was an abscess and last night it broke open. Luckily, I made an appointment for today. They'll clean it up and possibly put him on antibiotic. He's acting or himself this morning.
It's very cold this morning. The forecast is for warmer weather. Deezel and I will walk downtown later today. The shoulders on New Road are not clear enough for walking. But we have lovely sidewalks for pedestrians.

I'm trying to decide on what to print the Haiku for 2011. Should I use card stock? Or silk? Then  what should I use for the art work ? I decided to start with #365 for 1/1/11. Also, I'll print each identically using the original date and number as the title. Since, I'm in need of practice with watercolors, I'll do each piece of art work with them.
Today's next to the last entry will be the second for 2011.

                                         DAILY HAIKU 2009
          December 30 #364

I'll miss this project.
What can I do for next year?
Seek out the challenge.

Pencil  and the numeral  for the day in words and numbers behind the text make for simple art. Saying goodbye to a year long art -based project was a little scarey.

Extreme diligence and the contemplative life

The exhibit at Peabody Essex is fabulous with gates and stones from the Palace Gardens. The Emperor had the right idea - retirement was a time for contemplating objects of beauty, but why wait until retirement? Of course, he was seeking enlightment.
 Of course, lunch at the Brew Works was yummy. And the company, the best.
Today, chores, errands and walking through the woods with the dog. He's restless this morning due to being in so much the past few days. I have to get an appointment for Buck Wheat. The lump I felt last week has gotten bigger. We assumed it was related to a fall, but it should be getting smaller by now. I'm feeling sure it will be bad news -  health and money wise. Vet's visits are so expensive, but my animals are priceless.

Finally the winds have settled and it's in the twenties this morning.

DAILY HAIKU 2009

The text and the number are the focus of this entry.

Only two to go

two more cards to make and write

Make the year last longer.

The floating text spreads across the rectangles that represent the cards and the book.

furnace is running, woodstove is stoked

Well, we're at a whopping 17 degrees this morning. But we're cozy inside.
Anne, Ila and I (possibly Susan) are going to the Peabody Essex Museum to see the Chinese Emperor's Exhibit. http://www.pem.org/ They were closed yesterday due to "inclement" weather. That's an understatement !
Deezel was full of vim and vinegar yesterday when I went out to clean and move my car, so I put on my snowshoes and headed into the woods. It's odd that the winds were less brutal in the woods, but as they rattled the trees, Deezel got a little spooked. It was nice, noisy with the gusty winds,but nice.
My long admired pine is still standing. (See entry for March 4 )

DAILY HAIKU 2009

December 28

Paula, Dawn and I went to Manchester to the Currier Museum

http://www.currier.org/ to see a photography exhibit. I used a black piece of cardstock for the base and attached a cream colored card cut smaller. I drew organic shapes with pencil for the exhibit. I wrote the text on white paper with a Flair pen and attached it in small units over the pencil drawing.

     a visual feast

to fill one's creative needs

        a different food

winds blowing sound like a train

Roger's out somewhere plowing; Deezel's still on his bed, although I think he's needing to go out. He does not like the loud winds. I'll go out soon to clean the steps and the back deck and take him with me. It's too windy to go into the woods, yet.
ART PLANS
I registered for a workshop at the Currier Museum of Art in March called "Watercolor Collage". Since I'm thinking of doing small watercolors to accompany Haiku from 2009, this will be a boost to my skills. My plan is to begin 2011with #365 from 2009.
Later, I'll finish pages in ART JOURNAL: July-Dec. One marks the lunar eclipse, another for exchanging gifts with Dawn & Paula, and a third for Christmas Day with family. I do work best when it's quiet here.
 The latest issue of "Cloth,Paper,Scissors" has several great ideas to try. I'm intrigued by the books made from manilla folders. After the day's chores, I'll try it.

DAILY HAIKU 2009
# 361
December 27
Obviously, not the blizzard of 2010, we had rain on this day one year ago. It washed away the fluffy snow from 12/26.
I drew vertical lines with pencil, whiter marker and stitches. The stitches in grey thread secured the gauze and I did a decorative machine stitch over it. I drew a "blanket stitch" along the edges, and wrote "rain" as part of several  vertical  lines.
The text follows the irregular line of the gauze and is written with a Flair fiber tip marker.
Steady rain dissolves
yesterday's soft snow. Puddles
pattern the backyard.

Merry Christmas and here comes the snowstorm

Yesterday was a quiet day at our family celebration. All the next generation are grown up and no little ones are running around with crazy, frantic excitement.
The numbers are down from years past. We had a sit down dinner. Tyler and Heather were with her family. Adam is on the other side of the world on the USN Sterrett. Elizabeth didn't make the trip from PA. Roger opted out of being in a family get together to avoid any further entanglements.

On Christmas Eve, Roger, Ila and I watched "Toy Story 3"finally. I loved it, and yes, I did cry. We got the lights on our tree and I started hanging my ornaments.
                                                      WEATHER
The snow storm that's hit the south east blasts our way and the  forecast is for up to 2 feet in various places beginning this afternoon. Roger will have a busy day and evening I'm sure.I'll be snowshoeing and relishing  the lovely white stuff. It's been too dull, brown, and dry.
                                                              PLANS
I've begun typing all of 2009's Haiku to edit. Then I'll make small are to accompany each for my 2011 project. I'm thinking of doing all watercolors.

DAILY HAIKU 2009
December 26  # 360
I used a portion of the snowflake stamp in silver for a border and the leafless tree stamp in the center. I stamped the  text on the printed parchment. The first two lines are from the card I made for Anne on her 70th birthday and the third refers to my Haiku writing.

                      Who counts the snowflakes?
        Who numbers the fallen leaves?
               Who counts lines written?
               
Although it's too specific for the universal sense usually expressed in  traditional Haiku, I like its look, sound and rhythm.

December 25
This is an entry with a "mistake" covered by a white scrap of paper, a bit of the evergreen stamp and the celebratory  stamp I've used previously for family get-togethers.
I lettered the text with pencil in a favored font.

family gathers
brothers, sisters, nieces, and
nephews celebrate

Christmas Eve traditions

Deezel and I went to the beach for a walk this morning. The surf was again high and very impressive. There was enough beach for a walk and Deezel met a fun dog, Ben. It was cool there with some wind, but not as cold as I had expected. The blue sky and bright sun helped to me to feel warmer.
Mary L. and I changed our usual Xmas Eve morning coffee and Stollen get together. Their bathroom has been done over and is not quite done, she had some errands to finish and Roger had to do a couple quick jobs that didn't get done yesterday due to the ER trip.

DAILY HAIKU 2009
December 24
Celebrate longtime
friendships with conversations
enjoy happy times.

This entry curled a bit due to the medium I spread over the paper. I used scraps from a quilt patterned wrapping paper for its old-fashioned look. I covered it with Golden Gesso. The text is on tracing paper. 

two days of flurries

The ground has a white cover -thicker in some areas than others, but white. Now, it's melting off the porch/studio roof because of the sun. There is talk of snow on Sunday, but not before Christmas.
Roger and I made a trip to the ER this morning. His heart "kicked out' during the night. He's had "A-fib" before. A little electricity, correctly placed, and he's back to a normal rhythm. I'm picking him up shortly.


DAILY HAIKU 2009
December 23
Paula, Dawn ,and I shared and exchanged gifts on the last morning of school. Each larger frame has a portion of the text written with pencil in small caps.
I stamped some holly leaves  in the corners and a portion of an evergreen tree stamp on the left side.

December 22 is based on a Mondrian tree that I love to share with my students. After lightly pencil sketching the tree, I went over it with  pentel marker. the background is "cubed" with colored pencil and ink. The verse, although nice, has a twist that I think is actually a mistake. It is written on a tiny strip of tracing paper. 

moonlit landscapes of winter shimmer in the cold dazzle of the sun

Winter Solstice, lunar eclipse

It's old news, but the eclipse happened last night. It's the first in nearly 500 years on the solstice... who checked that record?
I was up of necessity at 1:30; it was a lovely full moon. About 10 minutes later, the eclipse had started and I saw it twice more before the cloud cover did as its name says and covered the show. And I went back to sleep. At 5:00, I got up and it was gently snowing.
Deezel's pestering me for a walk, guess we'll go out through the woods and take Buck Wheat.
I got a long letter from my longtime friend, Dianne and she mentioned that they got another dog after loosing Molly a while ago. I'm not sure I'll be up to getting another after Deezel, but for now I cannot imagine life without him.

DAILY HAIKU 2009

December 21 Winter Solstice
Surprisingly, this entry does not celebrate the solstice. It marks, with some regret, only ten more Daily Haiku 2009 to finish the year !
The tiny text is on pieces of parchment:
                                 Ten days remain for
        art and Haiku marking the
                                year two thousand nine.

December 20 The "snowflake" stamp shows under the parchment, with two cut ones on the parchment. They are from "All About Paper" I wrote the text on thin strips of tracing paper as a frame and with a white pen in cursive beside the snowflakes..
                       A morning's snowfall softens edges, outlines limbs, delicately white.

three days of windy weather 2009 and 2010

I postponed a morning walk to finish projects for "Art Share" with Dawn and Paula. We're meeting at Paula's later today. I'm happy with the way the projects look.
Yesterday, was Popover's for breakfast, then a haircut, and mani. Thanks to Portsmouth Spa, especially Colby, and all they do for me to feel special.
Friday, at school, I posted some new work http://ekesartistsworkshop.blogspot.com/

DAILY HAIKU 2009

December 19  # 353
This must have inspired the project I finished on this day in 2010.
Silvery paper - the inside of an envelope - cut into floating shapes, intersect asymmetrically and forms the basis for this entry. Hand drawn spirals for the dog and sea shells follow the line created by one shape.  I used a floating font for the text written with a Flair felt tip pen.

Piles of detritus
deserted high on the beach,
the water recedes.

December 18  The card was covered with tissue,  stamped with gold around the edges with a center left unstamped and the text printed on a transparency.

December 17 The leafless tree stamp is under a piece of tissue and parchment. The verse, under the parchement is written on tracing paper. 
                       Frigid winds thunder, dog hurries out and returns. Turn on the furnace.

another cold morning, bright sun,

We have no snow, and it's been too cold to take the kids out for recess.I'm planning on taking Deezel for a walk this afternoon after I get back from lunch with Paula.

I've got some art to work on this afternoon. Stitching on the two gifts for art group, and making an entry  in Art Journal 2 for the Rockettes at the Wang last week. Then, I'll meet technology head on - figuring out how to print labels for Christmas cards to save my thumb from all the writing.

My other blog ArtistsWorkshop is up and running. Go to http://eks.sau16.org/index.php/academics/class-pages/129-art-ms-merrilyn-san-soucie    Tomorrow,I'll be addng the carps that first graders did yesterday and the scrolls from the second graders.
As I wite this entry, I'm thinking some of the Haiku I wrote is worthy of improving. Daily work for 2011 might be to take the 2009 Haiku, tighten up the language and imagery, then do a second "art"piece in a journal...stay tuned.

DAILY HAIKU 2009
December 16 This was as stunning sunset on my way home from school. That's one advantage of short days. There's a clear view of the western horizon an my way home.

I used Crayola brushes for the colors in this entry and wrote the verse with a purple uniball "Vision".
Pink and purple clouds
surround the vivid blue sky -
astounding colors. 
I like the contrast of the single syllable words and the multi-syllabic ones.

Edits for this would take out "and" and "the", again.
Purple clouds float, pink
surround vividly blue sky -
astounding colors. 
December 15 Looks like I was in a hurry -hand drawn sun, puppy paws and flip flops. the border has several "layers" or attempts.First, I used pencil then yellow marker then black Marvy.

green in the season of peace

It feels like December this morning. Deezel and I will take a walk before I go to school.

I finished gluing pieces of  "receipt holder 2" this morning. The oak leaf outline unifies the separate pieces.
Now both are ready for stitching and drawn details.

NOTES
I'm taking some strips of fabric to school to have kids write messages of peace. Then I'll send them to Sarah Haskell. I'm hoping she'll take them on her upcoming trip to Dubai and South Africa. http://www.sarahhaskell.com/ and http://www.wovenvoices.blogspot.com/ .


DAILY HAIKU 2009                                              
                                                                        
                           Rejoice in outdoor
beauty, revel in the greens
                     and lushness indoors.
                                                                                   
The verse could be edited to read:
                          " Rejoice in outdoor beauty, revel in  cool greens, sweet lushness indoors."

I got an infusion of green and living plants with a quick trip to Wentworth Greenhouse to see their lovely plants and holiday decorations
This entry has stamped lines with quotes -they look like mistletoe in the upper left and lower right -
the text on the slanted lines is written in cursive with a Flair pen Lastly, I used a lovely leaf stamp in green. The scalloped border in red was done with a Marvy "LePlume".

wet and wild & beach in green and rust

I Heard The Tree Frog's Song

NOTES:
Yesterday, Roger, Deezel and I went to Warner NH to see David and Laurette Carroll.
The roads were not great, but cleared during the afternoon. We had a nice visit. We came home with a dragonfly print, a sketchbook, and t-shirts. http://www.davidmcarroll.com/
I first go to know them through NH State Council on the Arts. In 1999, (I was Program Coordinator) I invited him to speak at the New England Quilt Museum during the "Endangered Species" ww.nequiltmuseum.org . I had the above quilt in that exhibit.

Gift Progress-

Work progresses nicely on the receipt holder art; everything is glued. Today, I'll add the machine stitches. Then, add fine details by hand. I have another to make. That one will be based on the oak leaf.

DAILY HAIKU 2009
I used a favorite stamp (it's at school now) for the tree and decorated it with a red uniball :"vision" marker and lettering in blue over the pencil.
Each year, I decide to get rid of some of my decorations. Then, I remember who gave me each one and can't get myself to toss them. Dragging boxes out from the eave on my hands and knees gets more challenging every year.
Several are from Newfields' third grade students who are now in their forties...

rain, not snow for NH

I wish this precipitation was snow.Rain in December is dreary, and cold. Snow would be so much lovelier. I'd be out in the woods on my snowshoes probably soon.
Roger finished the cementing portion of the porch/studio work. He'll be closing it in this week.We won't have to worry about winter and spring rains washing under the porch and into the basement any more.
I made some progress on the gifts for my art exchange next week. I like the way it's looking so far. I'm planning to add stitching as decoration and as a way to hold the front card to the back.

DAILY HAIKU 2009
A visit to the Art Museum at the University of New Hampshire inspired this entry. The exhibit titled "Alice Spencer: Fabricating Time"  was stunning, awesome, and obviously inspirational.
I cut a kimono stencil, used the positive portion to block out the center, inked the surrounding edges then created the Alice Spencer style with the edges of ink pads. I cut a floral stencil for the green, leafy image.

I created a postcard size of the same image to send to Anne since she told me about this exhibit.

The text is on a transparency for the ink jet printer. I debated on its placement for a while and am not sure that it's "right" now. The font is perfect, however. 

positively balmy

It's all relative -it's only 27 degrees this morning, but after a low of 8 yesterday, today feels pretty nice. Deezel and I definitely get a walk shortly.
Thursday I went with Anne to "Radio City Rockettes" at the Wang in Boston. WOW, WOW and WOW - fabulous performance.

DAILY HAIKU 2009 The three pieces below represent the variety of approaches I've used over the past year. I  tried to NOT use a similar technique in sequence, especially when I created several entries in a single day.
December 11

This is an odd combination of stamping and sketched shapes. I used marker and a uniball "vision" for the lines, added two spiral, the barcode/grass stamp and an ink pad for the triangles. I wrote the text in a cursive style with a gel pen. It's not well positioned.

Let's meet for dinner

strengthen long friendships, toast fiends

we hold in our hearts.

December 10

I still like this card as I look at it a year later. In fact, it's similar to the plan for gifts for my "art group". I used similar motifs in a beach journal in 2004 when Monty (Deezel's predecessor), Ila and I were walking nearly every Sunday at Wallis Sands.
It's all pencil. The verse is on a piece of watercolor paper incorporated into the design.

December 9
I stitched a scrap of cheesecloth over the card, tucked in an oak leaf and snowflakes from "All About Paper", added a piece of tracing paper edged with ink and glued the verse written in white marker on black over everything. There are tiny strips of odds and ends under the cheesecloth.

elephants and early morning's philosophy

Yesterday, I used an overhead projector to enlarge an elephant for a first grade project today. I really was surprised at what an elephant looks like; their tails and trunks are about the same length and their backs have quite a hump. Today the kids will have a little drawing lesson and then they'll color and/or paint one third of the large elephant to hang in their classroom. I'll post the results on the ArtistsWorkshop blog in a few days.

I woke up about 3:30 and couldn't go back to sleep (the prednisone, I think). So I came down, stoked the woodstove, and started work on bills and the calendar items for the next few days.
I looked at the school calendar for 2011. Yikes, time flies...

the trench

It's cold for December all over the country. We have about 25 degrees and 60 inside. Roger's working like a beaver to get the project under the porch done before snow comes. Today, he'll cement the remaining two sections. Tomorrow he'll begin framing. We've had an open space under our porch/studio. We have had a water problem here and some shifting because of no proper footing. Once it's closed in, we'll  feel a big difference in the temperature in both the porch and my studio.

And we won't dread the rains of winter and spring that nearly always have washed under the porch and cellar door into the cellar. We have pioneer memories of being out in the cold getting the water running through a hose, digging a trench for the water, building temporary dams of boards. Being cold from my tips of my hands to my toes is much less fun than a few years ago. This suffering always made me feel tough and Puritanical, I guess. Now I like warm, dry and secure !!!

 After the second  100-year  flood in a year four years ago, I got on-line ( never have I appreciated the www more)  and ordered a submersible pump, which works wonderfully.One of us stays up to keep an eye on it and if we lose power (we did last year), we have a lot of water. Now (after 30 years- another example of time flying) we'll have solved that nightmare.

 three sections

DAILY HAIKU 2009
December 8
This card has a curve because I treated the surface with a gel medium, just to see what it felt like. I never did another...
The colored section is a piece of vellum inked irregularly and adheres with the medium. I used  a Flair felt tip for the lettering, floating over the entire entry. The day and date are in pencil , in words and numbers.

I love the muted colors of late Autumn/pre-winter. There's a dreamy quality to them after the glowing fall colors of the trees. The cloudy, grey sky provides a sensuous background, perhaps it's preparations for the  slower pace of,  at least Mother Nature, in winter.

enjoy one's talents, and others'

I added a few beads to my new glasses pouch this morning - maybe a few too many:

Here's a photo of the spread I did to celebrate the talents of the hand. These are Tim Christiansen's Talents on the left with my drawings under it.The following page has the info the doctor gave me and it explains why my drawings are so rough. I framed the paper with some light stamping and some Zentangle-like doodles.I think it needs more...

DAILY HAIKU 2009

December 7 Anne's birthday & Pearl Harbor Day

I must have had a lot of chores on this day - I collected a myriad of scraps in a haphazard way, glued them down and added a piece of tracing paper for the verse. The flip flops and spiral dog paws are stamped to record a walk with Deezel.

The evening with old friends refers to the annual get together of a small group of ladies who are quilters. We've been meeting for probably 15 years. We began when my friend Dianne McAnaney was teaching in Stratham. We stayed together as a quilt group through the passing of Sue Bannister due to diabetes, the construction of a mermaid to celebrate Andrea's 60th birthday, and now just meet to catch up.

P.S.We met last night for our Holiday cheers at "Not Your Average Joe's" in Newburyport, MA. They have a very nice bar, and a great white Russian.

Many Cheers

more beach adventures

I didn't include Deezel in any pics at the beach, and was too busy bathing him at Club Canine to take his picture, but here's a shot of the public beach near Wallis Sands in Rye. The tide was very high, leaving us a narrow path, some places  we were in the water. Each wave rattled the stones on the beach and crashed in various places along the shore. A man with a lab and a woman with a golden were there also. 

The power of the ocean inspires and sends a little fear into my soul.

Deezel stuck pretty close, but did check out the other dogs.

Last stop was  "All About Paper" in No. Hampton and bought several lovely gift items, several pieces of  fabulous paper, and a weaving she did on a crocheted base. I told her about my students loving weaving and we came up with a couple more projects I could share with them. So now I'm looking for screening with large enough holes to weave through.

Today, I have chores, errands and a dinner date with my quilting friends. Probably this is the only "artsy" work I'll get to. I am finishing a new glasses pouch with some beads, and I got out a Twelve Days of Christmas quilt I started years ago to quilt the rest of it and hopefully hang this year. I do a little handwork because my  thumb joint is in bad shape.

DAILY HAIKU 2009 

December 6

Clear blue sky follows

swiftly moving first snow storm.

December is here !

This entry has some decorative stitches thanks to my Janome securing a piece of tracing paper over the card and white paper in the center. The grey pieces came from an ad, the precut snowflake from "All About Paper".

Christmas in Strafford

It's a cool, overcast morning. Later,  Deezel and I are going for a walk on the beach. Then I'm taking him to the doggy wash center for a LONG overdue bath. It'll be challenge I'm sure, but we'll try. I'll take pics.
Roger's got to stay with the digging project under the front porch/studio to be able to pour cement tomorrow.
Yesterday, Ila and I went to Strafford NH for their artists' open houses. Check  out  www.christmasinstraffordnh.com . 
I bought a hanging flower pot from John Ouellette, barbecue sauce and jelly from Dagne, a small wooden ornament and trinket box from Dick Gagne at  www.woodshopnh.com and a hobby horse ornament from JoAnne Ernst of Sugar Maple Designs. She makes incredible teddy bears from German mohair which I'll order, since I ran out of money. I just don't get  "stopping-when-the-money-is-gone".  I bought a small piece of my sister's, which she gave me.



DAILY HAIKU 2009

December 5
My usual hair appointment at Portsmouth Spa with Colby-  but making changes - new hairdo, new bronzer and still waxing... feeling the aging, maybe...
                   Changing the hairdo,
new bronzer, more waxing -
I am but mortal.

I cut the appointment card into thin strips to weave added a black and a Japanese paper  and snowflake from "All About Paper". I wrote the verse on a piece of tracing paper with a calligraphy pen and trimmed the edges with a brown ink pad.

December 4
I introduced a project with fourth graders about Georgia O'Keeffe. I used Crayola paint brushes for the work, lush and colorful in a season where these colors are not usually seen.
The verse is written on white card stock then glued to thin strips of purple scrap booking paper then glued over the blossom toward the asymmetrically on the card.

                                   Detailed, grand blossoms
                   of summer -enlarged and rich
                           not late Autumn's hues.



December 3

I found this lovely pine cone still tightly packed on the walk at the far end of New Road. I drew it with pencil on a scrap of white paper, glued it over tracing paper on the card. The flip flop stamps and dog paw  spirals fill the edges.  Petals of the  pine
                       cone fit perfectly, snugly*
                          to open with seeds.
* I always have had trouble with doubling consonants...

full moon and straight trees

It's cooler than yesterday, but without the rain and wind. The sun is dazzling me through the studio windows - dirty from the driven rain of last night.The lights in the windows have shut off.
Deezel and I will leave shortly for our walk.


DAILY HAIKU 2009
December 2
I liked this entry so much that it was the basis for Christmas cards for 2009.
I enlarged it to 4" x6" and typed the text. I had it copied at a copy shop on white cardstock. Several people that got the card commented on its beauty. It certainly is an accessible image, one that everyone can identify with. It is colored pencil with a  favored Japanese paper for the frame.
                                 early morning moon
                            sets, modestly round behind
                               the straight, still tree trunks
I was inspired by the moon's position in the early morning in the north western sky as I walked Deezel through the woods.
The verse is successful, but I wish I'd left out "the" and used an adjective. Black seems obvious, but they were really a grey brown. "Strong" repeats an unnecessary sound - too much alliteration. Perhaps "thin"...

December 1
This entry is another of my favorites. I cut black cardstock for the trees and shadows. The moon is a piece of scrapbooking paper with a white on white print and a touch of gold not seen in the photo. The ink pad I used for the sky is obviously a "Cat's Eye" and is greyer than the photo. I used a silver on the ground. "December first" is stamped along the lower edge.
The verse written with pencil follows a curvy groundline.
                                       A full moon commands
                                     the black blue sky with shadows
                                         lines in the white light.