Of the many word-based games played on ColourLovers, one of the newest is HAIKU PALETTES & POETIC PATTERNS where Lovers create palettes and poems at the same time from the words in the color names. The group began in January 2011 and quickly grew to 20 members in its first few days. Membership has more than doubled in less than the three to four months since the group was launched.

The Autumn Queen HPP

by Luna Rose

Upon rainbow throne
Bright and bold - The Autumn Queen
A sight to behold

April is National Poetry Month - A note from the editor

The month of April has many national celebrations, one of those being National Poetry Month. Before we draw this month to a close, we want to feature one of our most recent, popular groups, the HPP, managed by ketisse, a COLOURlover who is very passionate about writing and poetry. I personally think that it is amazing how she has invented a way for COLOURlovers to work with color, pattern and palettes to create poetry - the process is truly intriguing!

Today, the group currently boasts:

• 178 COLORS
  
• 179 PALETTES
  
• 184 PATTERNS
  
• 67 LOVERS

I hope you enjoy learning about the group itself and learning how to create a Haiku through palettes. ketisse has put together a very through guest post about her group and the creation process.

- Molly Bermea / Community Curator & Blog Editor

Haiku
Palettes
& Poetic
Patterns
[HPP]

Creating Haiku's Using Color

A Haiku is created by combining colors while arranging the color names so they compose a poem.

The HAIKU Palettes and Poetic Patterns Group (HPP) challenges its members to be creative in two very different ways simultaneously:

2. 1.) Combining colors while arranging the color names so they compose a poem.
3. 2.) Working with words and colors this way can be a worthwhile exercise that helps expand personal creative horizons.

When making a palette or pattern, an artist can choose from every possible color available in the COLOURlovers' system, which can seem overwhelming. If you stick to the word games in the HPP Group Conversations, it might help you narrow your options and focus and sets a challenge to meet.

When you first enter the group, only five Conversations show, make sure you open up all of them. For instance there are only 5 of 13 Conversations showing (as of today), you'll find many other challenges if you view ALL 13 Conversations. With new challenge types, will come a new Conversation thread.

Haiku group discussions are distinguished by who names the colors.

It seems to be more of an advanced challenge if the haiku palette/poem was created using colors named by other COLOURlovers, than if the colors were named by the palette maker to complete the haiku palette. Some palette poems can be made up from a mixture of self-made colors and existing colors, these would be moderate to intermediate challenges.

"Crossovers" - palettes that qualify for two or more groups

This is where “crossovers” came in to play. These are palettes that qualify for two or more groups. The One-Lover at a Time (1LP) palette challenge was the first to be combined with Haiku for a crossover challenge. Periodically, a COLOURlover who has a lot of colors with English names is announced to the group and the palette/poets who accept the challenge use only that person’s color names to create a poem palette.
Crossover Palette Example / 1LP (One Lover Palette): notice all the color swatches are made from one COLOURlover.

Old Brain HPP + LP

by nfowler

Memory Dream Work
Fading Thoughts, Old Brain Butter
I Can't Remember.

Reading a COLOURlover Created Haiku

When viewing a HAIKU Palette, some may LOVE the palette after viewing only the color combinations. Unfortunately, viewers can move on without reading the color names and miss all the beauty in the artist’s poetic work. So, in group discussion threads, most palettes are presented in a way that allows viewers to appreciate the poems and the colors simultaneously. Of course, reading the color names of most HPP palettes is the same as reading a poem.

Shown below is an example by Donna Brock, aka COLOURlover: sunmeadow

Notice the correlation between the poem and the names of the colors swatches used in the poem.

The Rose

by Donna Brock / sunmeadow

The red blossom bends
and drips its dew
to the ground.
Like a tear it falls

HAIKU Poetry Café - Watch & Listen

Hidden inside this group, is the HAIKU Poetry Café. This is where ColourLovers can sit back, relax and enjoy some poetry performances by some very entertaining spoken word artists recorded in their own voices. Palettes inspired from this discussion do not have to be Haiku poems. The performance videos are chosen because of their powerful messages as well as their potential appeal to all audiences. For instance, some of the artists featured in the February series, for Black History Month, included Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, Tupac Shakur and Jill Scott.

I liked how Trixxie also incorporated a pattern describing parts of the poem's points, being a phenomenal woman, in patterns with the same color palette (see below).

Making a Haiku yourself

Haiku poems have 17 syllables arranged in three lines with five [5] syllables on the first line, seven [7] syllables on the second line and five [5] syllables on the third line.

Because most COLOURlover palettes contain five colors and because the palette-poet must combine phrases found in color names written by others, the syllables may be spread over those five lines in any combination that totals seventeen. If a poem-palette doesn’t have 17 syllables, it is still a poem, even if it isn’t a HAIKU.

First, open MS Word, Pages or a notepad program, where notes and lists of color names can be saved outside of the CL system. A paper notebook, sticky notes and a pen or pencil can be used for this step, too.

Dissecting the Process...

Each color name that had potential went onto a list on the notepad. If a color name contained a color word, it was skipped because most color names evoke an idea of color without actual color words. With a 17 syllable limit, color names that suggest colors are more expressively efficient (a good thing).

To develop the story of the poem, these questions came to mind:

• Who would be in this water?
• What would happen there?

The color name search was shaped by these questions. YCC2106 had written two color names "ARROGANT MOON FISH" and “SWIM NAKED”. These color names answered those questions.

The word "arrogant" evokes an emotional reaction; the "moon" part took on a double-meaning when added to “swim naked”. These were the first to be added to the poem. The paradoxical, oxymoronic color name: “WISE FROGS” was already on the notepad but not in the poem yet. The idea of “WISE FROGS” seemed to be the perfect foil or opponent for the “arrogant moon fish” and went well with “DON’T KNOW WHY”. The poem was almost finished.

To fill the remaining syllables, the word EMBARRASS seemed appropriate at this point. YCC2106 had one color name: “EMBARRASSINGLY” but with five syllables, this took the poem to 18 syllables (one too many for a HAIKU). A search on “CONFUSED” revealed “CONFUSED AS HELL”. With four syllables, this completed the poem perfectly. Placed intentionally between the "moon fish" and the "wise frogs", "confused as hell" can apply to either. Let the reader choose.

When you go to this palette, Indecency HPP 1LP, take a look at the comments (both pages). It's fun to see the reaction from a COLOURlover when you use all of their color names in a Haiku.

The creative process can vary, COLOURlovers who are members of the HAIKU PALETTES & POETIC PATTERNS GROUP, put a lot of time and effort into their poem-palettes. You may view other HPP palettes here (by searching "HPP" under Palettes).

Group badge pattern artwork: colored by ketisse, Original Template by sunmeadow and badge assembly by ycc2106. Pattern "Symea wrote a Poem" is also used in the header of this post.

Header color palette, "Indecency HPP 1LP" was made by ketisse.

Keep creating beautifully.

This group feature post was written by ketisse, Edited by MollyBermea