Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Inspiration. Where Do You Find Yours?



Birch Trees - Gisele D. Thompson


    As a visual artist, my inspiration comes primarily through my eyes. A walk in the woods, or even through my neighborhood can provide me with the sensory inputs that can be the start of a new painting, or even the beginnings of a new understanding of color or composition.

    I would be the last to admit to being a big reader (I am not). But when I come upon a piece that connects me to the natural world around me, it can inspire as well.

    Robert Frost, spent many years here in New Hampshire at both his family farm in Derry NH, which is open to the public, as well as The Frost Place educational center for poetry and the arts in the White Mountains in Franconia, NH. Sometimes I like to think that I might ramble down the same “road less traveled” in search of inspiration and reflection that Frost might have.

                                                                  When I see birches bend to left and right
                                                                  Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
                                                                  I like to think some boy's been swinging them.
                                                                  But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay
                                                                  As ice-storms do. Often you must have seen them
                                                                  Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
                                                                  After a rain. They click upon themselves
                                                                  As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored
                                                                  As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.
                                                                  Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells
                                                                  Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust—
                                                                  Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away
                                                                  You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.
                                                                  They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,
                                                                  And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed
                                                                  So low for long, they never right themselves:
                                                                  You may see their trunks arching in the woods
                                                                  Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground
                                                                  Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
                                                                  Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.

     (excerpt) from  Birches by Robert Frost

    Source: The Poetry of Robert Frost (1969)

For more on Robert Frost here in New Hampshire , NHPR has a wonderful overview.

To see and purchase Gisele's art visit her Etsy site.

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Inspiration. Where Do You Find Yours?

Birch Trees - Gisele D. Thompson     As a visual artist, my inspiration comes primarily through my eyes. A wa...