A Haiku Painting

I raced down to the river on my bike so that I could catch the sun before it ducked behind the trees.

As I pedalled toward the Willamette River I reminded myself not to get lost in the details as I painted.

; there are so many trees and bushes along the river that it is easy to feel overwhelmed.

How can I remember to keep the painting simple?, I wondered. The thought of Japanese Haiku came to my mind. A Haiku is a short simple poem with a limited amount of syllables.

I even took out a pen and wrote the word Haiku on my hand so that I wouldn't forget.

Once I got to the river I had to hurry to set up and mix my paint on the palette. I was just in time because the sun saw me and went fugitive: hurrying like a hermit crab to hide in the cracks of underwater rocks.

I began to paint.

Haiku, I said to myself as I painted. Don't overwork it, just put the paint down and don't move it around, just put it down and leave it!

Here are the results for Sunday, 08-08-2011:





The first painting

The second painting.