Difference
What is it like to be you?
If I were you,
I would not know
What it is like to be me
To know the difference.
- DLW.
DifferenceWhat is it like to be you? If I were you, I would not know What it is like to be me To know the difference. |
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"Everyday there are
reminders that this amazing creation we inhabit continues to blossom forth.
Between us and the stars lies the usually silent sky. Let us listen to the voice within as we view
the beautiful skyscapes recreated in these pages. These paintings are all based on actual awe-inspiring
dawns and sunsets observed by Jeni Bate, mostly from her desert home in Imperial County, California.
This book is an antidote to everyday stress. The artist has accompanied her paintings with original
verses that are sometimes sad, sometimes happy and occasionally hysterical. The overall result is a
book that delivers a deep sense of peace and tranquility. It is an inspirational book of incarnational
art and fine poetry." - DLW. |
Ego TripImpossible thingstried and succeeded, give you most satisfaction. |
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"I have known Jeni Bate on both a personal and professional basis. Her passion and dedication towards
her art, both as a visual artist and a poet, have made a lasting impression on me. Her latest collection of Sky
Paintings and Poems, "Mixed Weather" is a striking reflection of how she masterfully brings her talent for canvas
and word together in a sensitive and personal partnership.
Some of the subject matter goes beyond her love for nature. "Charles Grant's Bed" demonstrates wonderful wordplay in
describing an insightful perspective of the one piece of furniture that represents a significant part of our life.
Nevertheless, much of her work stems directly from her life around Salton Sea. You get a sense of those quiet moments
as an observer committed to record in creative imagery to preserve for others to enjoy..... - Richard L. F. Archer, Sr |
One with the skyWhat if we nurtured the worldthe way it nurtures us What if we were one with the sky. What if we understood our lives are as fleeting as storms and watched the clouds pass by. |
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"Last year I was asked by Jeni to describe a golf ball. I described a round white thing. Jeni went on to describe the contours,
shadows, texture and the changes as it moved. A golf ball is not a round white thing. The vision of an artist brings perspective to our
surrounding world. Jeni's skies - bright and glorious or dark and ominous take us to that moment and allows us the privilege of participating
with her in that moment. The evolution of her works enhanced by her written perspective shows the continuing path she will share with us.
Different techniques, creative concepts in layering and colors add to the adventure that is the vast sky of her home. I see Jeni's mantra - "I paint the skies with peace and passion because that's the way they paint me" - as an invitation to share with her not just how the passion of her art flows within her but to read the depths of her views, beautifully and simple but carrying the same vastness as her artworks. I look forward to Jeni's works, her canvases and poems. Her wisdom and skills continue to manifest in new ideas but she is true to her sky and sharing her time with us in its beauty. A golf ball has never looked the same. - Bob Brodie |
Fire TruckTwinkle, twinkle red fire trucksoak the sand until it's muck. Put the fire out with a splash - lots of water, lots of ash! How it started we can't guess but the fire truck leaves a mess. |
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"How to put a cloud in a sonnet? Fitting fluff into rigid rules. Maybe that’s where lightning comes from. This tension between beauties forms.
The Italians tried it first. Shakespeare said it was too easy and set for himself harder rules. Sometimes beauty works that way.
Jeni Bate now adds color, texture and an enchantment to Shakespeare’s form to draw you in. The sonnets appear so safe, yet like the
clouds can be volatile inside. Good poetry is never for the weak. And this is good poetry.
It is enigmatic, straight-forward and deceptively honest. Perhaps the rock poet Terry Scott Taylor had such work in mind with the suggestion
to “Describe the voice from heaven / And paint the grace you’re given / It’s the shape of air.”
Come find the voice and grace. But fasten your seat belt. You’re in for a ride. - Eric von Mizener" |
Dawn's WhisperWe never listened to dawn's whisper, mornings lit red with sun's new rays until the whole sky shouted out - a wetter world with cloudier days. |
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"Jeni Bate’s fifth weather book, Cloudier Days invites you to again partake of the peace and passion of her skies. Her expressive
art brush and fine-tuned poetry pen pair perfectly to inspire, evoke the inner dialogue, bring aha moments, and see beyond life’s dark skies to
silver linings and sunnier days. Let me walk you through just a few of my favorite experiences in these pages. Jeni’s clever and creative phrase choices for the initialisms (or acronyms) of OMG and LOL carried me way beyond social media’s chat speak. Nine-one-one, Days of Youth and Superbloom offered me prompts to be patient, smart about risk, and keeping an eye on my rear view mirror. I hope to never defy the nature we are made of (Yan and ying), and I will never again look at a hummingbird the same way (Violence). In her poems Libby’s Shells, North Road and Childhood home, Jeni bares some of her cloudier emotions and experiences. She shares secrets of her soul and in that process touches ours as well. The striking art and well-crafted poetry of Cloudier Days will have you looking up, looking within, looking beyond and looking at the whys of our evolving weather. OMG, I’m gobsmacked." - Caren Bainbridge Godwin. |
PoetryA poem is an idea in a stack, an essay from the right side of the brain; a story we can tell and tell again, a lesson within a sweet delicious snack. A sonnet is a thought inside a box, a concept paired down into fourteen lines, the thing 'bout which the poetess opines, a theme which first develops then unlocks the mind. A haiku is a nutshell bomb of three terse lines of reason and no rhyme, a point that's gotten to without much time to read; longer to write with such aplomb. And while there's pen and paper, time and light, There's always will be poetry I can write. |
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Herein lie the collected Shakespearean sonnets of Jeni Bate. A 20th and 21st century poet with a love for the same poetic form as The Bard. Blessed with a greater range of subjects upon which to write, and a longer life, it became a bucket-list item to out-sonnet William, and then keep on writing. |
Octo ArrivesHe felt the box's tape was getting cut.A waft of air came in, a different smell. The padding pulled out that had kept him warm. His tub was lifted out and opened up. Where was he? Who were they? He couldn't tell, but they said, 'Hello sweetie, welcome home.' |
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If you like hognose snakes - or perhaps any kind of snakes - or poetry, maybe a little iambic pentameter - and have a
silly sense of humor, and are between the ages of 8 and 120, you might enjoy this simple tale of a group of hognose snakes and a
couple other members of their family. |
Painting for Absolute BeginnersThis is a supplement to my 1-day intensiveclass of the same name, that I run sporadically in and around the Coachella Valley, CA. It's also a good refresher for those who painted years ago, and need a refresher, or are self taught and feel they might be missing something. |
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“I can’t paint my way out of a paper bag.” This is the way I introduced myself to my teacher, Jeni Bate. Coming from a
family of truly talented artists, I felt intimidated with anything to do with painting, but I was motivated to meet this dynamic
woman I had only heard about. Going into her classroom, I was struck with her accent. (She’s Welsh, btw.) She took our curiosity
and showed us how to use the basics every student needs to understand. Simple things like paper quality, brushes / care of, and the
color wheel. These are the tools to help Create, a bit like learning how to drive before you actually get that freedom. In case
you’re wondering, my first tries, well, my two-year old grandson could have done better. But Jeni’s opened up a word of colors for me.
I don’t just admire a beautiful “scape”, but I find myself trying to match the colors the Earth provides with colors in the palette,
rom Maui to the Mojave. She gave me the ability to push my Special Ed students to think outside the box. “If I want peach or lavender,
what colors do I mix to get that?”’ thus giving them a sense of accomplishment in a world where they struggle. Right or wrong,
they try again, experiment and, with some funny combinations, grow. They too see their world differently. The knowledge she shared
gave me a Gift. My beloved aunt was dying. She wished for ‘something purple’ to hang in her hospital room. With Jeni’s help, I was
able to fulfill this last wish. |