Hello Jon!
Lovely words to read after I wander back to the forum after months of absence, and probably wander off again for months...

Hope you're well.

Best wishes,
hanevi.

You're welcome zonkerman!

And, of course, my interpretation doesn't limit in any way the painting viewing; I'm quite happy to have different people interpreting it differently, and that's the thing about viewing art- it's quite subjective, and the viewer does need freedom to interact with a piece of art at whatever level he or she wants

:)

Sorry, I was out for three days and got back online only today.

In response to zonkerman's queries, the viewing of art is a highly subjective activity, and the creation of art has increasingly become so. I won't go into that because it's a highly debatable topic and has no end, but because of that, there is a high degree of flexibility to art viewing.

Just very simply, my painting can probably be described as a metaphor. The stone structure represents institutional 'manhood' and hence the face in the stone, and the water below which should be reflecting the blaze of the sky is a grey -brown 'sludge', and represents society, life in my country, the problems of society here, etc. The bright 'explosion' or orb in the sky obviously plays on the idea of the sun, but represents a source of life- God, conscience, truth, love,etc. whatever you want, and the crackle of energy from it represents an 'encounter' with any of the above in a way that causes a paradigm change in attitude, philosophy, behaviour, etc. The lava represents a response arising out of that encounter, and where it touches the water, instead of solidifying, it 'detoxifies' the water making it 'sweet',, hence the blue-greens, and where that blueness touches, it brings life, represented by the stone in the water which the blueness has touched, and which has srouted forth a tree. The tiny size of the tree is intentional to cloak the enormity of the event- a bare stone cannot sprout forth anything, let alone a tree. The blaze of the sky above represents the glory of a life possible, and one of goodness and abundance. The different shades of yellow create texture, and make the painting visually complex, and is all done with painting knives, and is a particular style of my own.

There is, in addition, a deeper underlying concept and meaning to the painting which I realised only after I had finished it, and that's a story by itself, and I won't go into that now. it's very different in content to what I've just mentioned, but there are common principles. Anyway, that really doesn't matter.

We often view art with 'literal' mindsets esp if we've grown up very analytical or logical, and it's often difficult to view art that is more abstract, because it defeats our ideas of form and structure, and organized ideas. I often had a problem with that because of my background in science, and I had to engage my creative side more regularly and stretch it more, to have a more wholistic viewframe. It's taken a while for me, and I'm still on the journey, and probably will be for the rest of my life. :)

Thank you zonkerman, for the simple and direct questions- I appreciate your interest, and I hope that what I've briefly mentioned here has helped, at least a little. :) Thank you for the affirmation of the topic!

Best wishes,

hanevi.

magic curtains play, 
silent gusts of light  blow wild
over icy seas

This is just imagination! I've only seen clips of northern lights and can only imagine land always winter clad. 

You're welcome Dinhi! I've been addicted to Haiku for years; i just don't get time to keep in touch with the threads here. :(

You guys! I forgot to get online yesterday, and now look at the queue! :D I'm amazed at some of these Haiku; they're excellent! 

gems glisten pristine,
syllables form rainbow hued,
winter Haiku thread

Just a little tribute to Drekinn, one of the most intrepid Haiku people I've come across. My addiction pales in comparison, though its more closet! Thanks Drekinn for keeping the threads going since those summer months!

I have a collection of Japanese Haiku masters and, interestingly, a few of them occasionally break the syllable rule. Apparently, it's allowed, though it seems irregular, where the beauty and depth of the sentence can't be compromised to syllables, but they're rare. Sticking to the rule in our thread is helpful to build writing discipline, and also a greater challenge to get just the right word. :) I often find the 3-5-3 very challenging for the same reason, and also to explore Zen minimalistic concepts.

Where's Jon (jstro)? haven't seen him in a while...

:D BJ, that was a funny Haiku! I was wondering who would pick up that word.  And that's right...where's Drekinn? Maybe he's working on an alliteration... That was an amazing thread, though I never got around to doing one there. And where's Margana? She's usually been on the Haiku threads?

morning has broken,
the sun stepped out on to the
frozen thin ice dawn

falls upon my face,
tepid, watery sunlight,
emasculated

Oh no, I'm so sorry! I did this before in another Haiku thread, and now it's happening again! I think I've caught some Haiku disease of ending Haiku with pentasyllabic problems. Oh no, now that's an alliteration...aghast apologies to all!!

rug of freezing air
wraps the cold earth's stony face,
where will the poor sleep?

Thanks for keeping the Haiku going Drekinn! I've been travelling and painting, not had much time to write. That's some very good Haiku there..congratulations and greetings to everyone!

This crazy city...I'm wearing 4 layers of clothes, a huge jacket and I'm freezing in this cold office, thinking of Bob Dylan's 'Cold Irons Bound', and in a few months I'm going to be cooking in heat almost half the temperature of boiling water. No wonder everyone's so angry in this city with these extreme temperatures!

Thanks David,
that's very encouraging.

Both paintings were quite difficult and I've had trepidation about them.

Thanks again! :)

hanevi

This is nice to hear!
Do convey my regards and congratulations to Diana, from one proud and exhausted parent to another. :) My daughter is now 14 months and is great to be with. I agree with Jon; for all the tiredness, I wouldn't trade my baby for any amount of rest!

And I'm happy for you, Dialyn. :) I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself, while the rest of us plod on. Looking forward to hear how your writing goes.

Regards,
hanevi.

feet sans shoes

caress autumn soil

cool and dry

The 3-5-3 is really an American Haiku form which is intentionally crafted to address the change in feel when one reads a 5-7-5 one in English. Japanese and English are quite different in their phonetics and feeling, so the 3-5-3 ones in English come closer to the terse feel of the 5-7-5 Japanese ones. Do correct me if I'm wrong someone. :)  And there is freedom for poetic license because I've read Haiku by Zen masters like Basho, Issa and Chiyojo which have an added syllable in one of the lines to preserve the poetry of the words.

Thanks for your explanatino of Renga. I was curious too, about what it was. :)

Ok, I can't resist another one- :)

glory shot,
clouds caress heaven's
autumn smile

Hi Dialyn,

I've just got back from some weeks of travel and work, and was asking myself where my writing was heading because i've noticed a shift in my style, but still couldn't identify patterns. Also, I've been trying to juggle, rather one-handedly, work, writing, painting and music, and reaching points of frustration because of fatigue caused by four hours of commuting a day in humongously crowded buses.

I don't know why i decided to scroll down and see what people had posted, and this post caught by eye. For some reason, it's come again at a very timely point of my life, and has helped gather many stray thoughts i've been having over the last few months.

I would agree with you. Any creativity does seem to require more sweat than brilliant flashes of inspiration. I think that's where we really become skilled wordsmiths, painters, musicians, etc. Your suggestion to try and make a guidebook to see one's growth and progress is a good one, and it does require discipline, which a serious writer would somehow find time to put in.

If not now, then when? :)

Thanks for the post, dialyn. It's been very helpful, as always. :) And my best wishes for the journey on the road. :)

hanevi.

:D

Hey this is GOOD!!

Way to go, Drekinn. It's good to see the torchbearers for the Haiku brigade!

now comes Fall,
clothing humble leaves
with glory

Hi everyone again.

Outstanding Haiku, friends!

I'm back after weeks of travel, and buried under work again. :(

But as a confirmed haiku junkie, I will not court cold turkey. I'm off to the Autumn Haiku for my fix.