Ellen Lindner: Art & Creativity

I’m a sucker for art quilt books!  I love them, and they’ve taught me a lot.  My most recent purchase is “Art Quilt Maps” by Valerie Goodwin.

I started reading it late on my last evening in Houston and then continued on the flight home the next day.  I was so anxious to get started that I began sketching right in the book!

In one of the chapters Valerie discusses making haiku quilts.  About all I remembered about haiku was that it was a strange type of poetry.  So, I mentally rolled my eyes at the idea of making a quilt from such an unusual starting point.  But, by the time I got to the end of the book, I was excited to give it a try.

First, the haiku.  Do you remember?  The first line has 5 syllables, the second line has 7, and the 3rd line has 5.  (So, I  remembered CORRECTLY that it’s a strange type of poetry.)  Per Valerie’s suggestion, I decided to write a haiku about a place:  a winding country road with rolling hills on either side and trees crowding the road.

Rolling hills of green
Trees right up next to the road
Quiet dappled light

I’ve since started work on the corresponding quilt and I look forward to showing you the results.

Ellen Lindner
P.S.  My son recently told me a great haiku:

Haikus are  easy
But they don’t always make sense
Refrigerator

Exactly.