More Poetry

Brave Pioneers

Clandestine prairie schooners sail ‘cross to sanctuary,

Searching for a foothold, finding no hope or beacon

As destined to failure as the passing desert estuaries

Yet winding through the wilderness, from their dreams not woken

The switchblades of verdure brood crude vicious curses

Harmoniously flaunting a sound cruel and haunting

With each gust of wind their bitter loyalty reverses

Listen to the groans of those whose life was soon wanting

Wagon wheel-spokes speak, creaking creepily in remembrance

Ropes taut and sails furled the prairie schooner’s breath spent

The Dragon screams wearily, seeking a wild and fiery vengeance

Filthy stream of curses in the storm, hell-bent on torment

Forfeited profit is the product of God’s wrath

Grapeshot whipping swathes in the wildfires raging

Molten cash crops embalmed in smoldering bath

Raining the wet breath of death ‘till Autumn’s moist caging

The winds whirl and oxen bellow, sailors straining and helplessly praying

Betwixt ransom and maelstrom the ship twists an ignoble wrestle

Gunpowder roars and fires crackle as rigging and tackle tangle whilst belaying

And yet the pounding forge passes releasing the battle-proven vessel

Waterless ocean, yet fearlessly as open

Brown bleached grasses strewn dead like dry bones

Cloned Davy Jones’ locker from their aquamarine brethren

These wave breakers lap at the strapped mountains grown

Glorious Terra Firma is stern with trespassing plantations

Welcoming visitors with cold hearted hospitality

The riches within are considered temptation

And forever beyond reach, just a mental reality

Nevertheless, nightmares still remain, waiting in the depths to stir the beast

Ascertaining the pain to prepare amongst the survivors cavalier

Taking care where they travel, they trod with faces creased

Yet this is home to these people, these brave pioneers

Summit

A

Snow

Stricken

Summit serenely

Spears the shifty stripes of

Shaken sunshine, striking the silent

Shroud of absent sound, it stands, summoning

The strongest and strangest to its stark shores.

Surely this sample of stalwart sculpture stamps a sense

                    Of synthetic security, a surreal spirit surrounding the soul with a

   Soothing stillness. Yet this sure support ceases with subsequent strides

          Skyward, suffering a stately zephyr to storm and squall, screaming and seething

      At the sinner stealing a sight of the saintly. This snow stricken summit serenely spans

    The seven seasons. Spacious and secluded, this silentious superior surrenders to Nobody.

Random Poetry

Thought I'd post this..... some impromptu poetry I wrote at Bible Study:

Homage to the Tetons

The Pine

A snap of a twig, needles break beneath

Soft carpet sewn carefully

Life’s seeds sown sparingly

Yet these short stubby pines drop veritable cornucopias

Only defrocked through spark throwing fire

And resisting corruption to form the next city of spires

The Tributary

The dribbling dripping stream bubbles and boils through broken cauldrons

Liquid snow flowing amidst the gentle newborn flowers

The mountain face melts in the way of this race

Rushing and crushing the rocks in the path

Brace yourself now, before you step in this bath

The Wind

The wind is the bard of the bare hard stone

Whipping and stripping the barren tundra’s life

It sings a solemn mass in its long-storied bones,

And moans of the past, of internal strife

Watch your hat as you go, know well that it might

Blow slow down the mount, and count well with the rest

At the crest of its power in the cold clear night

Emptiness withholding, its withering welcome blest

 

College!

Welllllllllllllllllll............

I finished "the Search."
Finally.

And I am looking forward to next fall.

It will be completely different than now.



Now, I'm homeschooled. I go to music rehearsals. Drive a lot. And some more. School is relaxed, circumstantial, almost.

Next year..... 

Dorms, regular class times, varsity sports, cafeteria food (not that bad actually).

Fun. My friends will form an integral part of my life next year. If I make new friends ;).....

The hardest part will be living a distance away from my current friends. Though many are also going away to college, my church and swim team and music groups will be back at home, along with the memories.

A couple thoughts.

Battling Basketball Brackets

Some NCAA tournament so far, huh? It's great that these smaller colleges can come in here and compete with the big boys.... BUT.... MY BRACKET..... [whimper]. I console myself with the knowledge that I am beating my dad. Not that it really matters.

I find myself amazed that we as a country are so involved in such a temporal thing. I know, I know, I know. Tradition, competition. Healthy stuff. However, why do we become so obsessed with a certain team, or with the whole event, that we drop what we are doing for a couple weeks and focus solely on a (silly) bracket? It's fun, for sure, but we must realize that it really doesn't affect the world, and us having a lucky guess doesn't help the people I drive past twice a week. Throughout the winter, they sit on the sidewalk. Abject to the cold. Helpless. When I administered water to people like this in NYC a couple summers ago, they could barely believe what we were doing. Is our society so twisted that a free bottle of water is so rare? These people aren't checking scores on their iPhones twice an hour (or more..... achem...). They are trying to live. They might as well be trapped on an iceberg, the amount of help we as individuals provide. I'm saying this because I fall in with everybody else. Thinking myself too busy, but really just too prideful. We would rather throw money at the problem than even turn our faces to it. Because we donate funds to charities, we make ourselves feel justified in our disinterestedness. We create excuses for ourselves. "They must have done something wrong," or "they brought it upon themselves." They might have. But how would you know? You haven't been there. Nor have I. But they still are.

I recently watched the Lizzie Bennet Diaries (on youtube, I highly recommend them!) at the advice of a friend. Based on "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen, it showcases the attitudes held by the story's characters in video, a much more emotional media than words. (No, I'm not going to make a video). Setting aside the love story for a second, the story really hit me. It reminded me to watch how I judge others. Whether it is the bratty kids and the helpless young mother at the grocery store, or the large man with a supersize meal at a fast food restaurant, I need to beware of a judgemental mind. I'm blessed. The road might be broken (see what I did there, haha), but I'm eternally blessed. Lets pass it on.

 ART: ........ Christmas Cards
I used the next three images for christmas cards a couple years ago. Each one was about 4x5.

1: Christmas Cardinal
Simple, non-wash. First bird. Fun getting texture of feathers.

 2: Swan at Takeoff
On of my best, this is another bird picture, loose wash and blue grey lines for background. A bit of turbulence under the wing, shows power in the bird.

3: Lake Superior Storm
I once again used the rubber "stuff" to create the white-ness of lightning. Subdued color scheme to show heavy clouds.

Art...............

 Art Day Whatever......

As you can tell, I'm not very good at regular posting. I decided to put more pics up at a time. Here are many of my watercolors. Above is a really washed over misting scene. Supposedly with a building on the horizon. Two people struggle through the rain.

 The purpose of the next work was for testing various depths of blue. I also used a rubber based material to create that white beach line. The rubber guards the original paper color, and is then rubbed off when dry.

 My first watercolor ever.... "Exploding Rainbow" was a abstract flop when I was twelve.

 This work was to highlight detail, and to attempt a 3D branch system.

 "Prickly Pears," a bit disjointed with the mountains is of a family picture from a vacation.
Tried to get distance and 3D-ness. (Like tree-branch above)

 "Reflection" is probably my best watercolor to date. It's purpose can be seen in its name.

"The Light" is not accenting the lighthouse, as can be assumed from the centerpiece, but instead the sunset in the back. hence the lighthouses plain black silhouette.

Good songs..... :)

Art Day 21

 So..... art day 21: "Tatonka"

I like to use this name after the native american word for bison as in "Dances with Wolves," a favorite movie of mine. These two works are of the same picture. I used a tracing of the pencil sketch as an outline for the watercolor. This was my first watercolor picture, and it turned out quite well.

The pencil was a little out of shape, so I redefined it for the painting.

Art Day 20

 Art Day 20: Little Girls Point

 

These two pictures are of the same place, as hopefully you noticed. I wanted to play around with different materials and their effects. The above picture is just charcoal, but the bottom has three different types of tape, markers, crayons, pens, pencils, and colored pencils.

The scotch tape is actually overlaying the bright blue maker, creating a richer, waterier look. It also blended the water and shore colors to make a beach effect. 

 Continuing with the effects of tape, this piece, done of an opened leatherman pocket knife, is done entirely in tape. I used the different colors to define edges and shadows, and also to show important elements, such as the hing joint of the scissors.

 This work also used tape, but only as a framework. The subject remained in blue ball-point pen.

Ball-point pen creates a good sheen for a metallic drawing, because it isn't as intense as pen and ink. More penknives above.

Art day 19

 Some random portraits I've drawn. Nothing special. Above is General MacIvor.

 Next is Michael Phelps, world-class swimmer and probably one of the most famous athletes ever.

 An unfinished portrait of Teddy Roosevelt, showing how non-professional my drawing is. (I don't follow normal methods).

Last is Elvis. Decent, plain portrait. Chin a bit too prominent.

Art day 18

 Art day 18a: King's Balcony

The picture above was done in a mixture of charcoal and pencil. I was trying to capture distance and perspective from height. The distance perspective worked, but not up close!

18b: Pen and Ink

This simple sketch is done pencil, not pen and ink, as the title might suggest. I actually took the picture from a book cover of mine titled From Hawthorne to Hemmingway. (It is a book of American author's short stories. I was trying to capture the reflective properties of the metal ink nib and handle and with the light dimensions of crumpled paper.

Favorite Christmas Songs this Season

Happy New Year!..... and Art Day 17

Hi Everybody!

I hope the Christmas and New Years parties were fun and exciting.
My family came around and we played board games for pretty much 3 days straight. Ate amazing food! (My mom is an amazing cook: my favorite was Christmas Dinner-- Beef Wellington)

Our Annual New Year's Eve party was awesome, of course. I won a game of risk that lasted until 9 a.m.
(Not as nerdy as it sounds, hahaha)

Anyways, if anybody reads this, sorry I didn't post the regular art days, but I hope you understand.

Art Day 17: Hand-ology
[ology means "study of" ]

After drawing so much of on material, portraits, and so specific a subject, Civil War Generals, I decided to go back to the basics. Because I had no formal drawing class,  I didn't really know where to start. I eventually decided on the hand as being an excellent subject because of the infinite positions, angles, and shadows. (The set above was actually drawn on the back of church offering envelopes during Community Bible Study lectures, along with a random shoe)

The below picture was a sketch of my own hand in the most finger-twisted open position I could come up with.

 Next I decided to move farther up the arm, trying to capture the muscles and miniscule skin definitions from veins and such. Picture below is titled "Grip."