The Poppy Photo

For once, the image I'm talking about today wasn't taken by me.  I very rarely use other peoples' photographs, but this one is a definite exception to the rule, .  It was taken by my friend Margaret McLaren, and I'm sure you'll agree, it's very beautiful.  Margaret has kindly given her permission to share the image with you.

Margaret has caught the moment perfectly.  I saw this image first thing this morning on my FB feed, and felt the need to respond to it, other than just raving about it.  So I wrote this haiku :

Poppyland at rest

           bathed by the setting sun

crimson to fuchsia

I don't think the poem is anything like the beauty of the image, but that's okay.  What it does, though, is to remind me of the beauty of the image, and that's enough.  When I look at the image, I'm reminded of pictures of poppies that I have taken over the years, like this one, places where I have seen poppies, walks in the country, all sorts of memories triggered by this one image.

This isn't the first time I've written about poppies, either; there's a post here, and another haiku.

The haiku I wrote for the photograph, though, has its own allusions, for me, at least.  Mostly, it reflects Margaret's image...but the word Poppylands comes from my childhood.  I was in a choir, as a child, and we put on a show every year....and one year, I was the Princess of Poppyland.  It's an odd reference, really, doesn't sit with the image itself, but it is hugely personal, and has meaning for me, and nobody else.  And that's the thing about images; if we allow them to, we can find all sorts of allusions to all sorts of things, memories, ideas, dreams.  

I'm a visual artist, but I find that poetry and writing in general help me to access my visually creative side.  Writing is very direct; I'll often write about something I'm contemplating making work about, to explore it.  Mostly I'll write in haiku, short and disciplined; sometimes, though, I'll write text.  I tend not to tell stories, but rather to write descriptively, write down what I see and what it makes me think of.  That process usually produces several ideas.  Were I writing about Margaret's image, I'd be writing about a wide range of things.  The first thing that draws me in is the colours and the light; working in those colours would be an interesting thing to do...particularly in abstract.  There's the structure and balance of the image, which is remarkable in itself.  It could be used directly to produce a representational textile image, or printed off as is, and stitched into.  The shape of the tree, and the way it sits slightly off centre, the relationship it has with the position of the setting sun...all of these things could be explored.  And then there are the poppies themselves, so many of them, so beautiful, so fragile.  They memorialise the war dead of so many nations, and yet are full of life for their incredibly short existences.  

All of that, and far more, from one beautiful image.  People talk about creative blocks, but I have never been a great believer in them.  'Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working', Picasso said, and he was right.  One way of making sure you have more ideas than you can comfortably deal with, is to stop worrying about creative blocks, or the muse (who doesn't really exist, trust me), and to sit down with a photograph or other image, and really look at it.  Let it tell you stories, and write those stories down.  Those stories are really ideas: let them come, and allow yourself to explore them however you wish.  Better still, take your phone or camera out with you into the natural world, go for a walk and see what you can find...and then use the photographs you take as the basis for new work.  Or go to a public gallery, sit in front of a painting and really look at it.  Take notes.  You know you want to...have fun!