the buffalo art class

This month, I took a four-session series of art classes at Starlight Studio and Art Gallery on sketchbooks. Starlight offers instruction for people who have disabilities. It gives them a chance to creatively express themselves in a supportive environment.

Each session focused on a different topic. The really cool thing was that all art supplies, as well as visual journals, were provided to us. There were so many art supplies ready for us that I felt as if I had arrived at the Art version of Wonderland (except without the execution-mad Queen of Hearts and the pepper-loving Duchess). I was offered a choice between a book of white paper and a book of black paper, and I chose the black paper. The first thing that I did was to create a cover for my book (shown above). I quickly discovered how much fun collage was when I had such a huge choice of images.

These were some of the images that I found in Starlight’s treasure trove of images. I really liked the photograph of the squirrel, combined with the black and white versions of the squirrel. It reminded me of the wicked squirrels in the comic strip “Mutts.” These squirrels did happy dances while throwing acords at the heads of unsuspecting cats and dogs. Those squirrels had pretty good aim, too. Do these squirrels look wickedly gleeful?
Some critters are just happy.
What I saw in this image was perseverence and a quiet strength. I saw a powerful woman who was going to make sure that no one would go hungry. And she was probably tired. So, I wrote a poem, which is below.
The poem is a tanka, a Japanese poetic form, with the following syllable structure: 5-7-5-7-7. It’s a total of just 31 syllables, which is a small structure. But, you can fill that small structure with your heart and your imagination and the power of your observations.
Here I am, gleefully contemplating exactly how many magazines I can chop up for the sake of Art (photo by Olivia)

This is the last day of the April Ultimate Blogging Challenge. The next challenge is in July, but don’t wait until then to come back. There are a variety of different events that I will share, including Relay for Life in June, the return trip of the Seneca Chief from Albany to Buffalo, and who knows what else? It’s going to be warm and there will be loads of outdoor activities, with so many opportunities to take pictures.

I hope that the pictures and stories of this month’s Ultimate Blogging Challenge have been as fun for you to read as they have been for me to post. I hope that I have managed to document life in a city that I have grown to love.

Thank you so much for reading my stories and looking at my pictures.

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