Lunar Moth Summons

In between lots of gardening - cleaning and preparing my flower beds, I managed to start the second concept for the cover of my next book of poetry, Lunar Moth Lessons.
I've had the idea of an arch in mind thanks to all the inspiration from the Gothic Arches Challenges - so much talent and diversity in styles and techniques.  And so many of the entries have that lovely mix of gothic, grunge, Victorian all tied up together - plus  lots of romantic historical figures featured in the layouts.
This time I created a mixed media collage using both paint and beeswax encaustic. Lunar Moth Summons features a copyright free figure from the late 1800's paintings, Spes or Hope by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. I own a hand-tinted photogravure of this figure who was modeled by Mary or Maria Casssavetti Zambaco. I think she's lovely and was excited to work with this image Burne-Jones created.  Two originals of the figure painted in different versions and colors exist as far as I know, a watercolor in the Dunedin Gallery in New Zeland and an oil in the Boston Museum of Art in Boston, Mass.
For my mixed media collage, I enclosed her within a copper Gothic arch as she's reaching out towards the lunar moth as if calling him to teach her about the night.  I painted the background in metallic and acrylic paints and added collage elements, a map of France, a Graphic 45 botanical tag, K & Co. flowers and dragonfly, an astrological sun/moon, a not so vintage stamp of a mountain landscape and a medieval alchemist holding an alembic.  I'm still considering whether to add 3D elements like I did with the first concept, such as flowers, Tim Holtz metal items or crystals. I'm still deciding.  Once again, I returned to my favorite colors - cobalt blue, copper and an almost translucent green which I accentuated using Perfect Pearls. .

On the Spot Poetry Marathon

If there are any poets out there who go through an impasse, can't get back in the groove, couldn't find a metaphor if it walked right past you like the girl in the red dress, then I make a recommendation.  A spontaneous poetry challenge.  I was chatting online with my long time writing partner, Brian (I've known him for ten years, we've been having writing meetings of over 5 years) who has moved from South Carolina to Durham, NC. 
He happened to mention he'd written a poem a month or so ago.  Right now he doesn't have time for writing with his heavy course load in college where he's going for a degree in ancient languages.  So I encouraged  him to send it on.  I read it while he waited. Then I reminded a half finished poem I'd written a few months ago.  So I went and dug it out, rewrote it and forwarded it to him along with my comments to him. This started a marathon which is still going on!
Wow.  His first offering was the beginning of an epic poem, The Bastards of Amon.  It was so powerful, so rich in texture and imagery, language and emotion, I was inspired.  By the end of the weekend I completed the first poem and wrote two more. I also started the layout out a poetry chap I've had in mind for over a year. And to top it off,  I started a beeswax collage for the cover of  Lunar Moth Lessons.  I haven't produced a poetry book for two or three years so this is a miracle in itself.
Brian has now written four parts to his poem and I feel as if I'm back in my writing group, where the tangential conversations lead into everything from politics, to philosophy, language and word, duende and awareness, each exchange driving us onward to renewed efforts and different insights charged up by the emotion put forth in the poems.  It is very different from our usual methods where we had at least a week to review and critique each other's work and to produce something new, a poem, a chapter, a story.  I don't know if we ever would have thought of this other than in such a spontaneous matter.
Now I feel like a poet again - it;'s been a long and lonely time as far as that goes.  And it feels very rewarding to be back on track.