Ghost Writer - Odilon by Jen - August 20, 2014

Yesterday's Ghost writer,  Jen of Blog It Or Lose It on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai wrote a wonderful introduction to a paiter I'd never encountered . Odilon Redon (1840- 1916).

" He was a French symbolist painter and draughtsman who said of his own work, “My drawings inspire, and are not to be defined. They place us, as does music, in the ambiguous realm of the undetermined.” As such, I don’t think he’ll mind if we use his artwork to generate haiku-moments and impressions.

Take a moment, then, and crawl inside this painting (Flower Clouds, 1903). 

Odilon Flower Clouds 

 This particular painting really speaks to me - infact a haiku immediately came to mind upon reading Jen's article which I put into the comments: 

  

sailing through darkness
a sudden outburst of light
enlightenment

Butterflys - Museum of Modern Art , New York U.S.A.

 imagination
in a bright mystic garden
butterflies and blooms

the artist's mind
opened by brush or paper
subconcious voyage

sailing in the bay
two lovers dream of heaven
salted tears unknown

perfume of jasmine
dusty earth in the first rain
butterflies play

salt on my  lips
sails clap loudly in the wind
fireworks in August

Here Jen confides a little secret and she's oh so right:

"Sometimes when I am feeling low on inspiration, I look to the art world for help.  It’s fun – and challenging –to unleash the muses and let them crawl around inside a particular painting.  Together we examine a piece of artwork with all of our senses and then wait for that poetic “flash of lightning” to strike.   And it usually does strike because we’re forced to look at something in a totally different manner."