Quiet Before the Game

Today the Green Bay Packers play the Steelers in the Super Bowl, and we will head out in a little while to meet with friends to eat, drink, and watch the big game.  I wanted to get a little work done first, and managed to finish up two small abstract collage/paintings.  I hope to create a series, all with similar colors, all using recycled materials, like the styrofoam trays I use for the tiles, and salvaged bits of an old dictionary, scrap paper, wallpaper from a discarded sample book, and even little bits of cardboard boxes I cut up.

My framer sometimes cuts mats and backboards for me from leftovers from other people's projects.  She gave me a very dark charcoal mat with a brushed gold back board, and the little tiles look good displayed that way.  I hope to put together a series with similar materials and colors.

All this black and white reminded me of a poem from an old anthology, Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle.  This poem is entitled Absolutes, by Gustave Keyser.

Absolutes

(from an ink painting by Seiho)

black on white
crow in snow
hunched
wet lump
on brittle branch
remebering warmth
remembering corn
miserable
as life
is
black on white