Writer, Artist, Photographer
15 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
Been fiddling with my WP Website this morning. Uploaded 3 paintings to a new page, but I can’t figure how to do a stacked menu for other categories. So wish I could afford a webmaster, and I am so struggling. 
Happy Monday y’all 
Source: Art – Goddess Series
25 May 2016 4 Comments
in Poetry, Uncategorized Tags: Poetry
Continuity
miles and miles i’ve
come
some walked
many run
alone and not too
and with you i’d walked
but just a few
but there was something
familiar in the pace
my mind recalls that
gentle face
somewhere, somewhen
my friend
we’d walked in step
before
and somewhere, somewhen
we’ll fall in step again
and share a few
miles more
© Perle Champion
18 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
It’s national poetry month, and as I’m too busy on other projects just now to write new poems. I’m posting some from past years. ##NationalPoetryMonth
Day 17 of Blogging from A to Z. Today’s letter is O
Oddly Opalescent Opaleye
opalescent eyes
reflect fresh blood stains upon
nature’s own buffet
© Perle Champion
So many of to
day’s myths were once legend, and I wonder if they have a basis in some ancient past. I wonder if real dragons once roamed the earth. Did the story of dragons begin with the sighting of dinosaurs? Did the story get passed down through oral history through the generations? We’ll never know for sure, but I choose to believe that in some way they once shared our earth.
The Opaleye is a medium-sized dragon, often weighing 2-3 tonnes. It was iridescent, pearly scales and pupil-less eyes that match, making it widely known as the most beautiful dragon around. It is not incredibly aggressive and produces a scarlet flame. Opaleyes prefer to eat sheep.* http://www.hp-lexicon.org/bestiary/dragons.html
04 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
“Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me?” – Whitman
Most of my friends know I try to go Walkabout every morning at or a little before sunrise. It’s an unplugged walk of 3-5 miles. The above quote by Whitman is as true for me as it was for him, but I don’t think anyone would hear those ‘melodious thoughts’ with the interference of earphones. There’s enough noise in the world.
My personal fringe benefit list.
Nature is all around. As I live in an old neighborhood, there are trees everywhere inhabited by all manner of creature. There are old houses (the once gated Glen Iris Park’s homes date from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s); old and new apartments (my 4-plex dates to 1938); various chain and local stores (I love the old Wilson’s now run by a lovely Indian family…
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22 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
23 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in Poetry, Uncategorized Tags: Poetry
Wrote this poem when I celebrated my first quarter century birthday in 1974. The drawing came later. Although I’ll be celebrating all week, today’s the actual day and I’m enjoying an Irish coffee of sorts at my desk watching the steady rain outside my window. 
22 Feb 2016 2 Comments
in Uncategorized, Walkabout Tags: WalkAbout
“Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me?” – Whitman
Most of my friends know I try to go Walkabout every morning at or a little before sunrise. It’s an unplugged walk of 3-5 miles. The above quote by Whitman is as true for me as it was for him, but I don’t think anyone would hear those ‘melodious thoughts’ with the interference of earphones. There’s enough noise in the world.
My personal fringe benefit list.
Nature is all around. As I live in an old neighborhood, there are trees everywhere inhabited by all manner of creature. There are old houses (the once gated Glen Iris Park’s homes date from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s); old and new apartments (my 4-plex dates to 1938); various chain and local stores (I love the old Wilson’s now run by a lovely Indian family and Western Market is open 24-7) and then there’s the University.
The University campus if it can be called that begins just 2 blocks from my home. Actually it encompasses a large part of the city. There are a myriad of sculptures gracing the front of their many buildings, so another fringe benefit is the art. I love photographing them in all kinds of weather and all times of day. My right pocket carries my IPhone for pictures. And then there’s the Muse.
The Muse walks with me often, whispering in my ear lest I miss some of the tree’s melodious thoughts. My left pocket carries a small spiral pad with a pen clipped to it. If you think walking while texting is dicey, try writing. It’s a good thing I walk early and the foot traffic is minimal (a few joggers, dog walkers). I do stop here and there and sit on a porch stoop, wall or the occasional bench when necessary.
Health is the final and I’d say most important benefit of my morning Walkabout. There’s no doubt that walking daily keeps me sounder of body, mind and spirit than I would otherwise be. If I miss a day or two I feel the loss on many levels.
Tomorrow, I turn 67 and thinking I’ll actually park by Golden Temple and begin my
Walkabout there and head for the string of parks along Highland (haven’t been there in a while). Might stop in at Starbucks on the corner before driving back home.
Later y’all.
15 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Journaling
Happy National Hat Day.
I have many hats. Some are plain functional; some are fashion statements. But whether functional or fashionable, all hats serve a woman living in the South. The southern sun will bake you to leather if you don’t take care.
Functional hats: Most people call them baseball hats. When I lived in Texas, we called them gimme hats, because most of them were free handouts with various company logos – gimme one of those please. I’ve never bought a one and I own many.
Not my favorite hat, but they are useful in my life. They shield me on my morning 5-mile walkabout from the sun’s summer rays, falling acorns and pinecones, and from the errant bird relieving itself from a tree branch or on the fly. I’ve worn them on the tennis court, playing water volleyball, Frisbee golf, gardening and more. They not only shield me from the sun, but just as important, they keep my wild naturally curly hair in check.
Fashion and function: My battered Fedora gets the most compliments, but it serves me well in winter. It keeps my head warm, protects me from the winter sun. And, as I hate umbrellas, it and my London Fog take the brunt of rainy days. Berets and Boggans are for the coldest winter days when the sun rises late and walkabout is over while it’s a hint on the horizon, and when the sun sets early and I have places to go.
So much of life in the south takes place outside: barbeques, weddings, receptions, fairs, Doo-Dah Days, Art in the Park, Parades, and on and on. So, I have a selection of straw hats for summer wear; my outback vented canvass hat; and I have fancy hats for weddings and dressy parties.
I am grateful to a lady I met when I was very young. I’ve long ago forgotten her name, but not her words, “Take good care of that pretty face. Clean it well, moisturize and above all else, wear a hat to protect it from the sun.”
Yes ma’am. I’ve been hatted ever since.
05 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
in #oneword, Art, Journaling, Uncategorized Tags: #oneword, Art
My one word resolution for 2016 is Persistence.
I rarely wait until New Year’s Day to decide what one word I will choose to inform my actions through the coming year. I begin on Solstice – darkest night. It is when the new year begins to me as we the wheel turns minute into the light and spring and rebirth. I feel hopeful and full of the possibility that like nature, I too can begin again, be renewed, and choose new paths.
I light my candles, recite my small mantra (aka spell) and sit and sip and ponder the past. I drew a card from the major arcana of my Tarot deck. I spoke volumes about my current moment and showed so many possibilities.
Long story short my One Word is Persistence.
Why? Simple as I sat and looked back at 2015 I saw the myriad of projects started but never finished. Paintings in varying stages of completion, but not yet done; Essays – ditto; blogs – ditto; and query letters for a completed children’s picture book – ditto.
And so I chose Persistence. I’m not going to do everything all at once. I started by taking the Painting-a-Day Challenge for January. I will paint one new painting every day of January and complete one unfinished one from my archive.
I will post one Blog a week – that’s easy as I write in my journal on a daily basis and it’s just a matter of transcribing an edited version for publication.
I’ve taken the following quote – one of my all-time favorites and posted it above my desk. I paired it with a photo I took long ago of a flower growing in the middle of a sidewalk blooming where it was planted.
11 May 2014 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Mother's Day
It’s Mother’s Day and I am fortunate that my mother @ 81 is well and going strong. She can still walk 5 pounds off my sister and me at the mall and keep going, loves a hearty lunch with a beer or two as intermission, followed by more mall shopping/walking and capped off by a happy hour with bar appetizers.
Still love to attend the art shows at various galleries and is not above hitting the dance floor at a recent wedding reception to dance the ‘dapki’ (?spelling).
Here’s my small collage of memories as my Mom’s day card to her. (she’s in Atlanta visiting my sib).
Perle Champion 