Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Splunder...

Splunder

What is splunder?
A splash of rain
A dash of thunder
Through this I blunder...
To Eternity

I have always enjoyed and been inspired by verse... of all kinds. I have always read it... created it and encouraged my classmates to share their poetic thoughts. Poetry and prose are creative "connectors"... conduits for further personal thought.,.. exploration and expression.

Many of the poets that I admire and favour are well known to those who share my need to read verse. Others are unknowns. People ... young and old alike who dare to lay down their thoughts to paper... and to share it.

Poetry was always present in my weekly curriculum planning. Often... on lazy summer and spring afternoons, I would take my entire out into the deepest part of the playground which lay bounded by a gently flowing Butler's Creek.

Within minutes, that meandering creek couched small groups or individuals in quiet solitude... responding in their own way to what they saw... heard... smelled or simply felt. It was magical to observe normally boisterous and sometimes bored adolescents obviously harmoniously tuned into the natural world... no devices necessary.

What they all produced... to the boy and girl was poetry in its purest form. Both they... and I revelled in this activity... and I quickly joined them "at play" in Never Land. I wished never to return to stuffy... too hot classrooms. Our willow world... babbling and bubbling with endless possibility and freedom was the beginning of a path that many of us would follow for life.

The memory-evoked poem "Splunder" above was written on one such idyllic early summer afternoon c.1969 at Westminster School, Brockville. It was penned by a beautiful and gifted young girl named Lois. Would you ever guess... that she was twelve years young... but "an old spirit"... even then? She went on to create a lifelong acting career in theater as a regular cast member at renowned Shaw Theater in Niagara-on-the-Lake and the Stratford Shakespearean Theater in Stratford, Ontario.

Clearly... integrating the Arts into our early childhood education remains essential to the success of gifted students in their later lives. But as well... it offers an introduction and personal basis for respect by all students for the Arts... and therefore culture - specifically... their very own!

I am the product of such earliest influence and encouragement. My love of images from the Natural World... the Arts and my love of the printed word support such a belief. In an age where the love and fetish for technology and electronic dependency preempts the use of imagination... there still lies an opportunity for each of us to... "slip the surly bonds of earth... to go where none has trod on silver... to reach out and touch the face of God."

Capt. John Gillespie Magee said it all for me as an artist in his beautiful poem High Flight. But it speaks no more or less eloquently than twelve year old Lois in her terse... forceful bit of "Splunder.

Here is my "second voice" visual poem... recently painted en plein air in the company of my long time painting pal Frank Edwards. Perhaps it enjoins in spirit and meaning the wonder felt by the above voices. It is intended and fittingly brings to a close this autumn salute to the richness and pageantry of a rapidly fading October... a once-in-the-year pageant of sights... sounds and raucous colour

Good  Grasping ... or Painting !... to ALL!


"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp.
           Or what's a heaven for?"

"Andrea del Sarto" by Robert Browning



"Fall's Final Fanfare" - oil on canvas 10x12 inches

10 comments:

  1. Dear Bruce your student's poem was wonderful. Creativity comes in so many wonderful forms. I just love "Fall's Final Fanfare" . So beautiful. ..makes me want to visit this lovely spot. So glad to see you are out capturing this gorgeous season.

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  2. Thanks Debbie!... So nice to hear from, you... and to visit your lovely site for recipes and great photos!

    Fall is so short... yet so inspiring! One has to get "out there"... before it vanishes... almost overnight it seems!

    Good Painting!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  3. Wonderful painting Bruce. Fall is such a magical time of year and brings fourth creativity in so many. Not adverse to a bit of verse myself from time to time. It often seems to release something from deep down...

    Sincerely,
    Jeffrey

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  4. Such a pretty painting of the beautiful season of Autumn which I believe to be one of great splendor in your country Bruce. Your school chum's poem is really good! no wonder she went into the arts as a career. Written words, poems do mean a great deal to artists as in painters, I often write too and it helps me to make sense of it all and it can also be quite calming after a few days of intense painting on the canvas! Happy autumn leaf fall to you Bruce!

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  5. Hi there Jeffrey!... So nice of you to drop by and to offer an encouraging comment about the painting!

    Your poetic thoughts are ever so beautiful ... and moving as well Jeffrey! I always look forward to visiting your site to both view your colourful West Coast landscapes and to listen to your voice! WE share much in common my Friend!

    Happy Fall Painting!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  6. Hi there Caroline!... Fall uplifts the spirit to soaring heights... like no other season.

    We are blessed to have hardwood forests and sugar maples present ample artistic opportunity to copiously use raw colour left dormant in one's otherwise throughout other seasons.

    The richness of language and verse creates further incentive and motivation to excite the creative spirit for most of us. It is a glorious and heady time to be out painting!

    Good Painting!
    warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  7. I enjoyed the poem by Lois and am glad words meant so much to her to continue in reading other's lines in plays. One never knows what will start a tiny spark in a student! Gorgeous fall painting, it is almost ablaze on the paper!

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  8. Hi there Rhonda!... Thank you for your encouraging words!

    What shines through in Lois' words is that every "voice" matters... whether spoken written... painted or danced! Having the courage to use it... proudly and without fear of judgement offers one possibility to grow... and to realize unimagined dreams.

    Your voice amplifies that same sentiment Rhonda... in each and every post. Paint on!

    Good Painting!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  9. Good morning Bruce. What an incredibly concise and profound poem for a twelve-year-old! I'm not surprised that she went on to have a career in the arts.

    I love the sugar shack painting. You are so fortunate to be surrounded by woodland at this time of year. There are odd patches of colour around here, but you have to go looking for them; almost like panning for gold!

    Enjoy what's left of the fall.
    All the best,
    Keith

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  10. Good morning Keith!.... There are profoundly gifted youth who display their singular gifts early on. I have had the honour to meet watch a number of them go on to greater things.

    It is that same "panning for gold" that we both complete in our creative travail that yields these special "nuggets" that make one's life so blessed... and worth living.

    Thank you for being "One"... of those ever-encouraging and uplifting finds!

    Good Panning and Painting!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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