Closing Out National Poetry Month 2026

Since April has just ended, I believe it’s fitting to close out this year’s National Poetry Month. After so many years of not writing poetry, I initially felt on unsure footing in this endeavor. Yet, little by little, I started feeling comfortable again with writing poems. And I appreciated the support, as well as reading amazing poems, from those in the Substack community.

Of course, one month is not enough to write all the poetry in our hearts. Creating poems can thankfully be done every day of each year.

So to close on poetry for now, here is a pantoum:

Recovering a Long-Lost Skill
Recall…
so  possible, the springing back,
like a coil,
even if emotions first permeate,
so possible, the springing back,
slack to taut again,
even if emotions first permeate,
and impede the course
slack to taut again,
til we free ourselves,
and impede the course
til we create fire,
til we free ourselves
like a coil,
til we create fire,
Recall…

Now for Visual Art

During a recent Oil Painters of America webinar, artist Eric Johnson focused on the concept of values in oil painting, which basically show a color’s lightness or darkness. An effective use of values helps delineate the form of what one is trying to paint.

Johnson’s website is amazing and can be found here; he is an incredible artist, and I love his portraits. While many participants in the webinar might have thought the topic of values too basic, I was listening intently, as I struggle with values.

Johnson generously shared the following traceable image and indicated values with which to paint it:

So I traced it and transferred the image onto a canvas pad sheet. Then I painted it based on the values he indicated – light, mid-tone, and dark:

I messed up the lips – I think, because I used a brush that was too large. Despite this error, I enjoyed this warm-up exercise, and I learned so much. Of course, I had to add a background. I will continue to work on values throughout my life.

For my new landscape, I decided to pay more attention to developing the sky and lake, which meant temporarily removing the trees from across the lake:

I’m also preparing the lake for some reflection from the trees that will eventually inhabit the background. In the foreground, I created a tree wet-on-wet, which explains why the topmost branches are not quite dark enough. I will repaint them when the paint dries. I know of several artists who paint entire landscapes wet-on-wet. While I’d like to do this someday, I’m kind of mystified how artists don’t rely on layering wet on dry like I mostly do.

Finally, I am continuing to revise First-Year Ballerina:

For this painting, I had overall decided that first I would work on the subject’s body and skin tone, followed by reworking the costume a bit. I still want to add a few more purples to her skin tone to reflect the purple outfit. I moved her ear for the third – and hopefully final – time, as I once again misjudged where the human ear is placed. I think it’s correct this time. I outlined the ear shape in white, for now, so I could better see what I’m working on.

I created her pigtails and am focusing on making her hair fuller, which results in fewer wispies, and I removed her part from the back of her head because it seemed like a distraction. With globs of white and blue paint, I erased the areas that had not been working, which means I’ll eventually be reworking part or all of the background to make it consistent.

Finally, I worked on her face. I made her eyes farther apart and smaller for proportion’s sake, and I now have an indication of her nose and mouth. I’m thinking of leaving the nose and mouth on the blurry side, but keeping the eyes clear. I will work on her eyes last. Of course, I’m not sure how this painting will turn out, but this is all part of the fun.

The uncertainty and mystery of what I’m creating or how I’m creating are blessings to me. Years ago I used to take mistakes personally. Now I just take them in stride.