Edges are made when a light source is blocked.
Darkness is ready to fill in on spec,
And fills in as well when a pistol is cocked
Or scimitar swung through a hostage’s neck.
Living unfolds but the fire and the fist
Cradle destruction and then let it bloom
Strings of non-puppets are cut to enmist
Utopian visions and tint them with doom.
matters of the cardiac muscle
inspired and influenced by Shawn L. Bird
humans have three kinds of muscle:
smooth,
skeletal,
and cardiac.
special striation
keeps us alive.
we have attributed more
to this squeeze&release
than the scalpel reveals.
it reacts
to our emotions
and our vitality.
it is only natural
that our predecessors
put the “heart”
before the “course”
and gave it our souls.
it is also convenient
for us to reposit
all our emotional chickens
into this pulsemaking
latticed
basket.
when will we grow up?
when will we accurately
reflect reality
with our semisensical
words
and fairy-tale
phrases?
a search of the non-heart
reveals
no answers there.
we cannot but conclude
that we are
all
heart.
Between the ears: “It’s great to be doing all these saxophones and Getzes, but how about a break?” “OK. What did you have in mind?” “Let’s take a good piece of paper and a pencil and one of those magic erasers and just see what happens.” “Not looking at anything? You sure?” “Yeah, let’s go. What’s the risk? One piece of paper–one hour of time?” “OK then.” And here is what happened.
At this point I’ve learned enough about Stan Getz’s face to picture it and describe it without looking at a photo: Pale. Nose slightly aquiline. Short but not weak chin. Deep-set eyes, with sockets sloping upward toward the middle of the face. Ears small but protrusive. (Birth trauma trivia: Stan’s poor mom, Goldie, had 35 hours of labor. The doctor went in with forceps. Stan’s head was so big one of his ears was almost torn off and needed suturing. The doctor said they couldn’t leave with Stan until they’d paid an additional $52–a huge sum of money in 1927–for the ear work. “$52?” Al Getz gasped. “That’s too much. You can keep him.” Then he paid up.)
Here is a first take on a solo headshot of Stan Getz. There will be four more.
Words:
Smoothened F then sharpened G
Talk with tune of what will be
Anthemed improv free of rust
No one’s catspaw no one’s klutz
Here is that work in progress from a couple of posts ago. Adding the acrostic and a great deal of detail on the sax, and subtracting the “mood indigo” photoediting effects I had used before, turns it into a different visual experience.
Here are the words to the double acrostic poem:
Tension eases Music rises
Effortlessly on it goes
Energy averts the crisis
Nestling riffs to curl the toes
Oscillating chordage drove ya
Out of country–Bossa Nova
Rendered Heaven pressed in wax
Rife with Wonder none dare tax
Now it can be told: My recent interest in the saxophone and the world of jazz is due to my acceptance of a commission to do a portrait of Stan Getz, the tenor saxophonist known as The Sound. I knew next to nothing about Getz, and was completely unfamiliar with the structure of the saxophone. Now, with several drawings under my belt, armed with the critically praised STAN GETZ: A LIFE IN JAZZ by Donald L. Maggin, and (just as important) having listened to some Getz sides, I am well on the way to meeting my deadline of April Fool’s Day with some familiarity with Mr. Getz and the world he inhabited. This is an enjoyable project, and I think I’ll come out of it a better artist. I’m a long way from the finish line, though!
Here is a new drawing, a work in progress. For the first time there is a real effort to put some of the keys and rods where they belong–to learn how things work together. There’s also “post-production” work with the tablet’s photoeditor, experimenting with selective focus and “mood lighting.” All of this is in the service of making the final drawing of the series more genuine, and all that jazz.
Here is a sketching jam session of sorts, done while riffling through the history of jazz. A serendipitous find: Gary Frommer, the drummer my parents picked up hitchhiking one fateful night and later decided to name their unborn child after, was once part of a Stan Getz combo! Small world . . .
Happy 111th birthday to the Good Dr.
As I indicate by my signature, I am an admiring fan of Theodor Geisel, known to the world as Dr. Seuss. FOX IN SOCKS charmed my own socks off me, and one of my fondest memories is reading it aloud to my toddler daughter.
Here are the words to the acrostic:
Let’s start with a task that will not anger bees
Leaves zinnias unfettered and gracing the trees
Out where it’s assumed that a favoring breeze
Obscures a disaster with greatest of ease
One way to get smash hits as featured in Hulu
Opine that the seaside has snagged you a lulu
See–he’ll never cease to amaze all us toddlers
Serves up Feats of antics for Mollies & Coddlers
Escape to his Casa–it’s Perfect for Dawdlers
…and please do visit http://www.seussville.com, where the Good Doctor lives on!
If March goes well, it will be chock-full of drawings of saxophones and jazz combos and portraits of major jazz musicians. In that spirit I kicked off March with a drawing of a saxophone of a friend of mine. No poetry, no “value added” distracting ancillary material–just a saxophone, a hint of the stand it rode in on, and some counterbalancing background.
