When She Writes Poetry

Today a dear friend of mine sent me some poems her daughter wrote at the age of 8 and I was not only deeply touched by the love for nature that I found expressed in the most beautiful words but also by the way she used language....making it feel as if she had carefully woven from the very sound of the words and syllables the most soft and yet at the same time thick and strong carpet for the reader to walk upon or lie down on.

A bit later I browsed the net visiting some of my favourite blogs for some inspiration...one of which is Art Journal Journey. I loved their theme "A Fantasy Scene"and wanted to create something to join in (and thought about elves or fairies)...and then I came up with this scene, letting my gut and hands take the lead.

After it was finished I was wondering where the idea might have originated from. I hadn't thought about girls flying with balloons or about tiny houses on hills for a special reason... Until I realised that this was my friend's daughter as I imagine her when I read her poems.
Every single word in her poems is chosen with such a lot of thought and utter precision in meaning...trying to show the reader how she sees nature and the earth she walks upon.

Her poetry inspired me to create this mixed media project....showing this girl, flying in the sky (because to me good poetry is like a bird's song) and looking down at the beautiful earth below her - seeing it from her very special point of view...feeling the warmth of the sun and being deeply connected to everything that surrounds her. At least his is how I imagine her.

I collaged some of the elements using old book pages and a colour copy of one of my recent abstract paintings.

The sky and the green on the soft hills were done by applying acrylic colours with a palette knife, layering various tones of blue and white rather randomly.