The Challenge of Literature - Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

It's been a while, hasn't it?! It seems that the only things that make me post right now are blog challenges - life seems to have got the better of me at the moment. But that's part of the reason I sign up for these challenges - to make myself keep creative, to challenge myself to move in new directions. 

This particular challenge to which you are tuning in today for, is Erin Prais-Hintz' The Challenge of Literature. I  love Erin's challenges - they are always SO well organised; she really pours her heart and soul into each one. We have had two Challenges of Colour and one Challenge of Music and I have loved every one! This one was my most last minute one yet, and that is saying something. I got in last night at 9pm, after starting school at 8.30, teaching through until 5.30, then moving over to the drama studio to set up for the school spring concert starting at 7. A long day! And since our wonderful trip to Cornwall (can't believe I haven't shared with you some of the amazingly inspirational places I visited....) I have been running around trying to catch my tail. 

So I got in last night, shattered (I'd been awake since 3.30am for some extremely irritating reason), and knew that I wanted to create my Challenge of Literature piece before sleeping, although I'd leave the photographing and blogging until today. Where to start....I used to be a voracious reader, but I don't read so much now - I have a subscription to audible and listen to SO MANY audio books (and yes, I know it's not the same, but it's better than not reading at all, surely?!) but somehow I felt this should be based on the written word, not the heard word. I also posted on FB that I was very last minute with this and Lesley and Erin suggested short stories or poems....my partner said "You should use something by Shakespeare as it's some celebration of his this year" {NB I don't know what this is. I tried googling 'Shakespeare' and 'Shakespeare 2012' but I can't find what resonance this particular year has with Shakespeare, other than he is of course pretty awesome every year}. Immediately I thought of one of the few sonnets that I know (partially) off by heart....Sonnet no. 18:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.
     So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
     So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

William Shakespeare

The reason that I know this off by heart is that when I was at primary school, a boy a couple of years above me set it to music(I went to a specialist music school) - voice and piano. And yes, primary as in 5-12 years old, he was a very young composer, but this setting still haunts me today. It was and is beautiful, and I can't think of these words without hearing the melody in my head. It still very much stands the test of time to my adult years over 20 years later. Gosh, how old I sound!

Here's my finished creation:

Available here

Instead of taking inspiration from the subject within the poem - the person whose very being dims all around them - I somehow found myself drawn to the idea of a summer's day - the rough winds shaking the darling buds of May. Shakespeare, although such a universal writer, always seems to me such a very English writer also. Now, I am not English, although I live in England - I am very much Scottish. Our nature is wild - mountainous, beautiful, sometimes stark, sometimes rich and abundant. The Highlands and Islands are like nowhere else that I know on earth. Very different from much of England and particularly middle adn southern England with which I associate Shakespeare. There is something altogether more refined and gentle about much of the English countryside - despite the mixed weather we might have in this country! And this is where this bracelet took me. A handmade copper daisy clasp from DaisyChainExtra, a handmade and stamped ceramic nugget from BoHulleyBeads, 

wooden 'teeth', Czech roses, vibrant aqua, gentle lilac, tiny flowers in mottled green and crystal clear...and two teardrops. 

I wanted to capture the beautiful colours which appear in British gardens - I imagined a sunshine-filled garden, with roses, sweet-peas, daisies and many other flowers for which I do not know the names....but with a gentle summer shower not so far away. Swaying trees (like the ones outside my city window right now) move with the breeze, along with the bell-like flowers 'shaking' in the wind. 

 I've knotted it all on undyed linen cord - a wonderful oatmeal shade. Rustic, yet delicate; feminine yet earthy. I am happy with it, despite it's last minute inception! Available in my etsy shop.

Erin Prais-Hintz
Rebecca Anderson {me!}
Rose Binoya
Lori Bowring Michaud S
hannon Chomanszuk
Marlene Cupo
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Kim Dworak
Beth Emery
Therese Frank
Amy Freeland
K Hutchinson
Kristina Johansson – is busy with the harvest but might pick up the challenge again!
Jennifer Justman
Susan Kennedy
Linda Landig – had to bow out but she has a lovely style you should go see!
Lisa Lodge
Lisa Lowe
Kirsi Luostarinen
Beth McCord
Melissa Meman
Sharon Misuraco
Tracey Nanstad
Melinda Orr
Kashmira Patel  - couldn’t play this time but check out her great designs!
Alice Peterson
Sally Russick
Niky Sayers
Pam Sears
Amy Severino
Kristen Stevens
Tracy Stillman
Emma Todd
Melissa Trudinger
Lesley Watt
Shai Williams