The Painting & Poetry Project 2021

Week 5: Eyes

Year 2021. What does it mean to you? To Addie and I, it is full of hope and promise. It is a turning point. The beginning of the end of a pandemic. The end of a volatile presidency and a return to sensible governance. The end of quarantines, isolation, and social distancing and a return to physical human interaction. We will once again congregate, gather with those we love, see them up close, touch and feel again … not in an impersonal virtual space, but in the very real and beautiful world.

We want to celebrate 2021 with an outpouring of creativity and optimism!

Each week, we’ll choose a theme upon which to write and paint. We have many exciting topics to explore, and we are excited to share our work.

So, without further ado, let’s continue this year’s adventure!


WEEK FIVE

The fifth theme for the new year is eyes.

For she had eyes and chose me.

Shakespeare, Othello

ADDIE’S PAINTING

Eyes
(Portrait of Taylor Swift)

Taylor Swift

MY POEM

Eyes

Windows.
Mirrors.
Stained glass.
Waterways to the soul.
Blue, brown, green, and black.
The hundred eyes of Argus
fan from one end of the world to the other,
like a peacock’s tail.

Ocean-iris,
from where do these mountains rise,
snow capped and cloud covered?
And blackhole-pupil,
how is the rainbow-known
 turned inside out and upside down?

Conjoined spheres are the world and I.
A world without and a world within.
We touch, as if by magic,
by a prism-wand.

Beyond the sun there is darkness.
Beyond the darkness, light.
Beyond that, both truth and illusion.

Can it be that this is all there is?
Is it all in here? On the inside? Like a snow globe?
Or am I your mere reflection?


ABOUT THE PAINTING & POETRY PROJECT

Brad & Addie

We’ve selected 52 themes (one theme per week for the year), and each week for 2021, I will write a poem and Addie will paint a painting inspired by that theme.

Expect an outpouring of creative energy! This is the sort of big project that artists live for … where we can say what we yearn to say.  Big picture stuff. Heart wrenching stuff. Expect surprises, love, and a passion for life.

Check Out Addie’s Instagram Account: www.instagram.com/alchemy.of.art.addie.hirschten/

Check out Addie’s art studio — Studio Alchemy:
studioalchemy.art/


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