Poster Image
$20
Item#: 2003SYR08
Purchase Details
11x17-inches, printed on heavy weight (100-pound) Hammermill cover paper. We package each print with a piece of chipboard in a clear plastic sleeve.
You also receive…
An information page with photos of the artist and poet, and hand-written comments from each.
Medium- and large-format posters are available by custom order. Contact us for details.
Poem Inspiration Location
Purple Night, Soft Air
poster information
Description
Purple night, soft air
Moth dances gently above
Outdoor cafe lamp
One night last June, I was downtown with my daughter, Deirdre, and we were sitting outside in Armory Square. She and I go downtown pretty often, and we have a good time. We go down for Blues Fest, and the Irish Fest. Or we go to the music store, or sometimes to the Dinosaur, or to Kitty Hoynes. Just walking around, sitting out—it's nice in the warm weather.
Anyway, on the evening that inspired the poem, we were just sitting there, watching everyone go by and Armory Square come to life, as it does, in the early evening. It was just a beautiful evening.
I liked this poem because there was already color in it—the mention of purple and softness. So it was easy for me to picture.
I work in several different styles. One is line work with colored ink washes. Another combines line and painting, which is more arbitrary and loose. The style I chose for the poster is somewhere in between the two. I left out my line to add to the softness of the piece. It's done in oil paint, wiped out, and worked back into. The café lamp emits that diffused light that creates the soft atmosphere. I hope that this style evokes the gentle feeling of the haiku.