Dawn Whitehand: Visual Artist
writing
A Poem & Drawing a Day Project – Just Reached 100 Days!!
Back on the 24th July I got this crazy idea to start a new wordpress blog documenting myself writing a poem a day, and creating a fast and responsive drawing to the poem…. a drawing which could possibly be further developed at a later stage, perhaps in a larger format.
Today is Day 100!
And it had been a very interesting experience. While I enjoy recording my thoughts, writing a ‘poem’ every day takes a fair amount of dedication and discipline, and then a drawing on top of that…
It has also been enriching, however. Purging can be very therapeutic I have discovered! So purging on a writing AND drawing level is doubly therapeutic!
Below is a slideshow of some of the more recent drawing inspired by the poems of the past 100 days. Under the slideshow is a photo gallery of the same images – so view whichever format you prefer. Enjoy 
Weekly Photo Challenge: Mine
Being a mother there are not many ‘things’ that are ‘mine’. As mothers we are socialised to be selfless, and ‘mine’ implies a level of possession and selfishness – not necessarily in a bad way. Being selfish is a survival mechanism, but as mums your instinct – which is reinforced by societal conditioning – is to protect your kids first. So I had to think about this challenge, and what I consider to be MINE!!
So here it is : HANDS OFF MY PASTELS!
To see some of my drawings you can visit my OTHER BLOG
Poetry and Drawing Diary Entries
Today I ran out of (nice) visual diaries…. MASSIVE DILEMMA!!
I like to write my poems and create my instantly inspired drawings using journals that are textured and handmade and …well…nice! It inspires me! As opposed to the journals I use to sketch out art/exhibition/installation ideas.
So, it has been quite a mind f%u&c$k* (just mixing it up & being polite – I don’t really know why).
Tomorrow though I am going into town (I live regionally) so can buy a few journals - if I can find them. The last time I went to my favourite ’hippy’ shop they were out and would not be getting some in soon…. what!! If you’ve been watching Big Brother I feel like Layla without here hair rollers!!
Anyway, today’s poetry effort, therefore, has been entered into my work diary on the days of 24-25th September - obliviously nothing going on those days!! Sheessh!!
You can check out this dismal – yet wonderful (?) entry on my poetry blog : http://apoemandadrawingaday.wordpress.com/
One Lovely Blog Award
I have been nominated by Patricia from Art Does Matter for the One Lovely Blog Award!! In order to accept the award and pass it on I have to complete a couple of tasks.
First… thankyou to Patricia for nominating me. Patricia’s blog is diverse and is well worth a visit, with posts about painting, ceramics sculpture, photography, her own artwork, other’s artwork, and lots more.
Secondly I have to share seven secrets about myself… this is the tricky bit!
1. I have had a very nomadic life – not by choice – and have moved thirteen times. Were I live now is the longest I’ve lived anywhere, and I never want to move again.
2. Despite this nomadic lifestyle – or maybe because of it – I can quite easily become a hermit, and bury myself at home writing, drawing, reading, etc.
3. I have a PhD, and although everyone who has done one complains about how harrowing it was and that they never want to study again, I actually enjoyed it and would do another one!! Craziness…
4. My dogs name is Eddy and no matter how much we try to control his diet, he just keeps getting fatter!
5. When I was young I used to collect stamps… and I still like looking at them. (sheesh, that was a hard one). Recently I made an artwork about colonialism and used some stamps on the artwork. An image of this artwork can be seen here.
6. Some people would call me a radical socialist feminist – but I just believe in equality. Unfortunately there is not much of that around.
7. I spend way too much time in cyberspace “networking”
Thirdly I need to nominate up to fifeteen blogs for this award – and let them know - so here are some blogs I follow and enjoy:
http://velvetmedia.wordpress.com/
http://samroderick.com/
http://theboywithahat.wordpress.com/
http://experimentalartwithsilvia.wordpress.com/
http://leannecole.wordpress.com/
http://catinwater.com/
http://rubicorno.com/
http://anartyblog.com/
http://jilljoy2.wordpress.com/
http://maggiemaeijustsaythis.wordpress.com/
http://loniduekart.wordpress.com/
http://diannegray.wordpress.com/
http://marktoner.co.uk/
http://glazesharing.wordpress.com/
http://thewanderingyouth.wordpress.com
A Poem and Drawing a Day
I have started a new blog called A poem and Drawing a Day. It is a good way to make myself begin writing poetry after a lapse of several years, and a good way to do some drawing, which I don’t get to do very often. The drawings are only small experiments or ideas of perhaps bigger things to come.
Below is a sample post, so if you’d like to read and see more head over to A Poem and Drawing a Day
It’s dark in that place
I don’t want to go,
…coldness envelopes it,
…fog enshrouds it,
…emptiness inhabits it,
…Loneliness reverberates,
Bouncing off its walls,
…sadness consumes it,
It’s dark in that place
I don’t want to go,
In My Mind.
This work by Dawn Whitehand is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
