Wednesday, January 6, 2010

2010 Creative Every Day Challenge -- Day 2

Creative Every Day Challenge -- Day 2: I Sing the Body Electric!

OK, I'm doing a little backtracking here because reader koufax politely demanded it. Here was my submission for CED Day 2. I posted it in my Flickr set and sent it to the CED Flickr pool, but didn't post it here on my blog....mainly because I said in my Day 1 CED post here that there was no way that I was ever going to draw my thighs! Well, NEVER SAY NEVER!

When I saw Leah's CED post about body words, I thought of Walt Whitman's poem "I Sing the Body Electric". This is one of his twelve poems from Leaves of Grass. This is one of my favorite poems, because it's a celebration of the body, both male and female, of our physical humanity. And it contains some of the most incredible words about sexual love that was ever uttered by a man of the 19th century (written between 1847-1855). Move over D.H. Lawrence.

So, "I Sing the Body Electric" will be my words for this month, this year: to affirm, to act, to dance, to sing out, to paint, to create. And this mixed media collage came out of my musings, and yes, prompted me as I stood in front of the mirror, to pull down my jeans and draw what I saw! Is that too much information? Oh well, I was always a little bit of an exhibitionist! And I didn't say it would be a realistic drawing! Of course I had to embellish my grade school drawing to make it easier for me to submit it! LOL! So, koufax, you asked for it!

3 comments:

  1. Was it the politeness that did it? I'll have to mind my manners more often! This is lovely, by the way!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now you have me wanting to go out and find Walt Witman's Leaves of Grass.
    This is one of life's delightful coincidences-
    My mother's mother gave her this book decades ago.
    And my mom gave it to me.
    Unfortunately, I lost it during one of our ' geographical cures '.

    My decision, when I joined CED, was to follow just a few women whose work I enjoyed the most.
    Looking around, I found You.
    Reading your comments has further confirmed that I've made an excellent choice :)

    Re. Google and how to become one of your " followers "- I'll keep trying ( LOL ). But does it matter ? Can't I simply click on your name @ CED ?
    BTY : @ CED I'm now listed as, Elizabeth Colvin.

    When I first began drawing and painting I hated it too.
    My desire was to make my work look as realistic as a photograph.
    Moving along to something I could be happy with, I sewed clothes and made Quilts for two decades.
    When " creative paralysis " set in I decided to try darwing and painting again. Also- collage, which might be where I stay since it's so open and free, /wo limits, where I'm knowing I definitely have limited abilities . I loved what you said, "...I felt ready after November to go past these feelings and explore my abilities. I want to be able to draw and paint what I see and feel..."

    Your vision gives me exactly what I've been looking for- To step out in faith expressing ourselves /wo feeling we're not ' good enough '

    Blessings and Peace,
    Elizabeth Colvin

    ReplyDelete
  3. koufax, mind your manners as much as you want, or not :)-- I like reading your comments.

    Liz, thanks so much for your words. Yes, right now in my mind's eye, I can see the paperback copy I had as a young girl of 17. It moved me profoundly. I am very happy to have "met" you through the CED challenge -- may we both continue to grow in our creative life! By the way, I think the reason you don't show up in my blog's followers box is because your profile is hidden. I can't get to your profile info if I click on your name link here in your posts. If you go to your Blogger profile settings, and open it up to the public I think your photo would show up, and I and others could find your blog if you also listed it in your profile. But, yes, I can always find you through the CED links.

    ReplyDelete