Sestina Painting Lesson
1 First you take a dampened sponge
2 Then put it to paper and wipe it around
3 'Til the page is wet, but not too moist.
4 With the paper laid flat, select a broad brush
5 And fill it with paint. Any color will do
6 But we'll start with blue and paint the sky.
6 With grand strokes we transform paper to sky
1 And as clouds bleed to earth we grab a sponge
5 To contain its flow so that now we can do
2 The horizon and foreground. Look around
4 And notice the lighting in trees and brush,
3 Shadows deepening, dark and moist.
3 Is it after a rain that it's wet and moist?
6 Or, morning dew from laden sky?
4 Let's make it early and take our brush
1 To the verdant foreground. With color and sponge
2 We'll now shape some trees by tamping around
5 Before we decide what next to do.
5 After giving it thought I think what we'll do
3 Is add lovers. Choose a small brush that's moist,
2 Not a flat this time, but a sable that's round,
6 And paint our lovers under morning sky
1 Walking a country lane. With your sponge,
4 Dapple the grasses, fields and brush.
4 Add a hurried creek with a bluish brush
5 Full of secrets. We know we cannot undo
1 The mysteries we paint. Even our sponge
3 Cannot wipe away, no matter how moist,
6 The image we paint of earth and sky
2 As light and shadow keep moving around.
2 As shadows shift and move around,
4 The changing light alters moods in our brush.
6 Our lovers take shelter from a stormy sky,
5 Our paints grow darker as we still try to do
3 The vision of morning, fresh and moist,
1 As we soaked up its beauty like a new sponge.
2/5 Let's gather around, I think we'll do
4/3 This painting again with brush not so moist
6/1 From falling sky filling paint and sponge.
©1987 Thomas A. Ekkens
Above artwork: Brushes