Learning to See, Again
This thought crossed my mind today as I was taking some pictures of a tree with funky fresh red blossoms. I was thinking to myself, I have never seen this flower before. But, what I started to realize that it wasn’t that I hadn’t seen the flowers before, it is more that I never really took the time to explore, and see the flowers with all my senses.
This is the challenge for artists, and for me especially as a visual artist we are constantly learning to see again. I just took nature for granted. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate nature, far from it, I love nature. I love being out in nature. It is more that I never took the opportunities that presented before me with my camera until I came to face the awesome power of the earth that contrasts with it’s diverse beauty.
I now see nature in my daily commute like I never have before. The colors, the shapes, the varieties, the phases from bud to bloom, to shedding of the petals. And now I am beginning to witness the flowers that are becoming the fruits of summer and fall.
I will continue to challenge myself through my art. I must grow as an artist or what is the point. I can never be truly satisfied.
Strive for that beauty out there in the world. Let it envelope us in those kodachrome colors.