"Poetry" by Pablo Neruda

Today I would like to share one of my favorite poems, "Poetry" by Pablo Neruda. It touched the core of my being the first time I read it. It describes the creative process, the moment of pure inspiration, when the ego is suppressed and the creator merges with the universal energy to create something new.


This poem always comforts me because it shows that I am not the only one who ever felt different from everyone else. Being a poet isn't something you decide to be when you grow up; it's something that you are.  Poetry is a calling of the soul and it comes it at unexpected times.

"Poetry" by Pablo Neruda


And it was at that age… Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don’t know, I don’t know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don’t know how or when,
no, they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.


I did not know what to say, my mouth

had no way
with names,
my eyes were blind,
and something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,
deciphering
that fire,
and I wrote the first faint line,
faint, without substance, pure
nonsense,
pure wisdom
of someone who knows nothing,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating plantations,
shadow perforated,
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe.


And I, infinitesimal being,
drunk with the great starry
void,
likeness, image of
mystery,
felt myself a pure part
of the abyss,
I wheeled with the stars,
my heart broke loose on the wind.

"Garden Song" Birdbath on Display for InBloom Sculpture Exhibit at OakBrook Center in Oak Brook, IL

Here are pictures of my finished birdbath sculpture taken at the In Bloom Sculpture Event exhibit preview celebration on May 19, 2011 at OakBrook Center in Oak Brook, Illinois. It was a sunny day so the high gloss finish reflected a lot of light.

"Garden Song" birdbath in its garden setting at OakBrook Center.

 

 Hey, I'm Alice in Wonderland! I can be both smaller and taller than the birdbath!

Actual height of birdbath is 5 ft.

Here it is with the sign and coordinating flowers.

Enlarged sign. Thanks again, Sharpie!

Location at OakBrook Center in front of Victoria's Secret. Photo taken in evening.

"Garden Song" will be on display through August 21. It will be auctioned off on September 24, 2011 with other sculptures for charity. 

I'd like to thank my brother, Greg Gaura, for providing transportation and his invaluable help in loading and unloading the sculpture. Also, thanks to my sister, Anne Marie Gaura, my brother-in-law, Lou Shirley, and my boyfriend, Chris Holbert, for all their help.

Birdbath Sculpture Last Day in Art Studio

I should say last day in the garage. Because of the 48" base petal and heavy weight, I decided that was the best place for it. When I started working on it in early April, there were days when I had to wear a winter coat, gloves and long johns to stay warm. I had tried space heaters but they kept blowing a fuse with the necessary lights. When I finished it it early May, it was warm out and a few windless days I could actually open the garage door to paint.

The bottom tier is glossy because I varnished it before it was lowered to the floor. I haven't seen the sculpture since it was dropped off to be clear coated. Next time I see it, it will be on display at the InBloom exhibit in OakBrook Center and I'll be able to take pictures of it at a distance. 

So here's how the birdbath looked when I finished painting it:

Birdbath Sculpture Work in Progress: Final Days of Painting

Here are the final days of painting the birdbath sculpture. If you look closely you will see a purple smudge on the bottom magenta shape, which was painted out in the following picture. Because I would go around the sculpture and paint one color at a time, when I bent into the form to paint, my clothing sometimes got smeared with wet paint which inevitably got transferred onto the sculpture. But don't worry about my clothes, I rarely paint in high end designer evening gowns.

Painting the stamen top had to be done in small increments as I had to move the scaffolding to make a spiraling pattern upward with yellow, orange and magenta.

The second to the last day I had the sculpture moved off of the workhorses and put on the ground. This was because of the tilt of the top petals made it difficult to paint.

Before the lowering, I put the first coat of Lascaux UV varnish on the bottom.

Almost done!

Birdbath Sculpture Work in Progress Continues

This is a continuation of the birdbath sculpture work in progress. Here I added yellow and orange to the two lower tiers. The sculpture sat atop a skid on two workhorses so that I could paint with ease. I really didn't feel like doing a Michelangelo, laying on my back to paint the underside of the bottom petals. I did have to paint at elevated heights, however. Because my arms aren't expandable, I had to stand on a step ladder to paint the center stamen and the inside parts of the middle petal.

Here I started on the top tier. This is the point that I brought in scaffolding. Perching the sculpture on a hydraulic lift so I could adjust the height would have been ideal, but it wasn't in the budget and I don't have a lift just sitting around in the garage gathering dust.

Initially, I wanted to incorporate my personal painting style of blending colors as I had with the light blue and magenta in the above picture. I found that the technique didn't work well with the grooves in between each petal and it was difficult to continue the strokes around the edges. 

I painted out all the blended colors and decided to add purple in addition to magenta. Because I found it was easier painting larger leaves than the ones I had drawn, I altered my design somewhat from the original Sharpie outline. Then I painted over any visible lines with white.

I painted over the white lines with colors. Though it was an opaque paint, the ultramarine paint for dark blue I chose wasn't covering the way I wanted. Paints react differently depending on the individual pigment. I remedied this by covering all the dark blue areas with a closely matched cobalt blue.

Birdbath Sculpture Work in Progress

Here is how the birdbath looked at the end of the first day of painting the fiberglass sculpture. When I paint on canvas, I usually begin with yellow. I started with the green leaves first because I knew the biggest challenge would be painting the center stamen form. 

A view from another side: