Sarah is a British eccentric who writes offbeat fiction, haiku and tanka poetry. When stuck for words, she sketches or paints instead. She's into nature conservation, sustainability, gardening, dogs, natural health, and reading. Her sociability is something that happens in short bursts with long breathing spaces in between.
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17 thoughts on “#Tanka 54 + #Painting of Labrador in Bluebell Woods”
Look at how talented you are!!! My goodness, Sarah, you’re putting the rest of us to shame.
I wish I had bluebells growing. Why don’t I? I’ll have to consider them for next year. Far too many of this year’s projects, so those beautiful flowers will have to wait one more year.
I hope this finds you well. Bev and I both received our second vaccine shot, so all is well on that front. The weather is turning nice, and the dark cloud seems to be lifting from life.
Anyway, I hope this finds you well. Stay safe and be happy, my friend. Hugs heading your way from across The Pond.
Aww, thank you, dear Bill. We haven’t had bluebells yet this year. My son wanted me to paint a picture of our dog for his room, so I let hm choose his favourite photo of her from my collection. then I set to with the artwork. It was very challenging. You have no idea how many colours are involved in mixing the exact shades for bluebells close-to, in the mid-distance, far-distance, sunshine or shade. I think I used 6 colours all told. It was great spiritual food to paint a picture of spring in January when I was feeling very glum.
I’ve had one vaccine (2nd is due sometime this month). Mister has had both his vaccines as he’s older than me. We’ve had some lovely bouts of sunshine here, but this week there’s an icy wind from the North. Have done lots of work on the garden, replacing old shrubs with new ones etc. I’m in ok health, apart from some allergic rhinitis but not sure what has caused it. Probably the cold wind, or some plant or other. Hope it’s not from paint fumes! Am not writing much at the moment but have decided to do another round of agent submissions, now I know what genre a particular novel is in, thanks to a wonderful beta reader telling me where it fitted.
Hugs to you, too, from across my side of the Pond.
Thank you 🙂 Always glad to make you smile. Hopefully I will be seeing you smile this week during facetime. Let me know when you and Dale are both free.
Thank you, Andrea. Yes, people that know my dog say that I have captured her expression exactly. As reference when painting, I put her picture on the screen of my PC and zoomed in on her eyes to ensure I got things right. I find that it helps to pencil a grid onto a printed out A4 copy of the photo, and then to do an upsized pencil grid of the same proportions on the canvas. For me, this really helps with perspective and distances. Hopefully, when I become more experienced, I’ll be able to manage without a grid, or do things from life rather than a photo. My only issue with doing landscapes from life, is that I hate random people standing behind me to see what I’m doing! As for dogs, they never keep still enough to paint from life, and I’m not enough of a genius to paint from my head without the subject in front of me.
Thank you, Dale! I can see your big smile in my head now, as I read your comment. Hope to see your big smile sometime this week via facetime, if you have a moment or two (or, better still an hour or two!). I’ll leave you and Rochelle to liaise…
Glory, indeed, to the gloom banishers! I am so, so, so sick of all that negativity flying about at the moment, flamed by the media. There is a lot of good out there. Creativity, that’s the key.
Wonderful, Sarah! I have been reading a book of tankas lately, so I might try writing a couple of them. You have quite a few of them! It is a lovely form, isn’t it? Hope your garden is doing well. Today we planted a Meyers drawf lemon tree in a new blue ceramic pot, and now I am enjoying staring at it when I look out at the patio!
Hi Carla, I’ve reappeared to answer your lovely comment. I hope by now you’ve managed to write a tanka or two! Thank you for asking after my garden. It is doing its best to do well. I finally have the weeds under control, have some new shrubs in situ, and some very pretty flowers. When finally the snails came out of hibernation, late this year, they were particularly ravenous. I had to take two full bucket-loads of them up the road to the woods, where I deposited them on some abundant foliage that could assuage their huge appetites. Thus it was happy snails and happy me! Your lemon tree sounds strikingly excellent in its blue ceramic pot.
Sarah Potter Writes 
Look at how talented you are!!! My goodness, Sarah, you’re putting the rest of us to shame.
I wish I had bluebells growing. Why don’t I? I’ll have to consider them for next year. Far too many of this year’s projects, so those beautiful flowers will have to wait one more year.
I hope this finds you well. Bev and I both received our second vaccine shot, so all is well on that front. The weather is turning nice, and the dark cloud seems to be lifting from life.
Anyway, I hope this finds you well. Stay safe and be happy, my friend. Hugs heading your way from across The Pond.
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Aww, thank you, dear Bill. We haven’t had bluebells yet this year. My son wanted me to paint a picture of our dog for his room, so I let hm choose his favourite photo of her from my collection. then I set to with the artwork. It was very challenging. You have no idea how many colours are involved in mixing the exact shades for bluebells close-to, in the mid-distance, far-distance, sunshine or shade. I think I used 6 colours all told. It was great spiritual food to paint a picture of spring in January when I was feeling very glum.
I’ve had one vaccine (2nd is due sometime this month). Mister has had both his vaccines as he’s older than me. We’ve had some lovely bouts of sunshine here, but this week there’s an icy wind from the North. Have done lots of work on the garden, replacing old shrubs with new ones etc. I’m in ok health, apart from some allergic rhinitis but not sure what has caused it. Probably the cold wind, or some plant or other. Hope it’s not from paint fumes! Am not writing much at the moment but have decided to do another round of agent submissions, now I know what genre a particular novel is in, thanks to a wonderful beta reader telling me where it fitted.
Hugs to you, too, from across my side of the Pond.
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Dear Sarah,
Both the poem and the painting made me smile. Lovely.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle,
Thank you 🙂 Always glad to make you smile. Hopefully I will be seeing you smile this week during facetime. Let me know when you and Dale are both free.
Looking forward to our chat.
All best wishes,
Sarah
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How sweet, you’ve caught a lovely look on doggy’s face and well done for getting the ‘distance’ right – I often have trouble with that!
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Thank you, Andrea. Yes, people that know my dog say that I have captured her expression exactly. As reference when painting, I put her picture on the screen of my PC and zoomed in on her eyes to ensure I got things right. I find that it helps to pencil a grid onto a printed out A4 copy of the photo, and then to do an upsized pencil grid of the same proportions on the canvas. For me, this really helps with perspective and distances. Hopefully, when I become more experienced, I’ll be able to manage without a grid, or do things from life rather than a photo. My only issue with doing landscapes from life, is that I hate random people standing behind me to see what I’m doing! As for dogs, they never keep still enough to paint from life, and I’m not enough of a genius to paint from my head without the subject in front of me.
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How absolutely lovely, Sarah!
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Thank you, Dale! I can see your big smile in my head now, as I read your comment. Hope to see your big smile sometime this week via facetime, if you have a moment or two (or, better still an hour or two!). I’ll leave you and Rochelle to liaise…
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Of course, reading this has brought another to my face!!
I’m thinking an hour on Sunday?
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That’s ok with me x
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🙂
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Glory to the gloom banishers! Love these both.
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Glory, indeed, to the gloom banishers! I am so, so, so sick of all that negativity flying about at the moment, flamed by the media. There is a lot of good out there. Creativity, that’s the key.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wonderful, Sarah! I have been reading a book of tankas lately, so I might try writing a couple of them. You have quite a few of them! It is a lovely form, isn’t it? Hope your garden is doing well. Today we planted a Meyers drawf lemon tree in a new blue ceramic pot, and now I am enjoying staring at it when I look out at the patio!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Carla, I’ve reappeared to answer your lovely comment. I hope by now you’ve managed to write a tanka or two! Thank you for asking after my garden. It is doing its best to do well. I finally have the weeds under control, have some new shrubs in situ, and some very pretty flowers. When finally the snails came out of hibernation, late this year, they were particularly ravenous. I had to take two full bucket-loads of them up the road to the woods, where I deposited them on some abundant foliage that could assuage their huge appetites. Thus it was happy snails and happy me! Your lemon tree sounds strikingly excellent in its blue ceramic pot.
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May your writing continue to be a joy for you! I look forward to more of your tankas. I have yet to write one.
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Finally, 4 months on, I’ve written another tanka. The joy is returning, but I won’t say that too loudly, in case a gremlin hears me!
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