Sunday, April 19, 2009

Two Reasons to be Happy

Well, I say two, but we both know that there are a lot more than that, are there not? For me it is sometimes the very simplest thing that brings me joy, and then there are the days I have to dig deeply into hardscrabble ground to even find a bit of the top of joy's head protruding enough to be touched by it. Melancholy today, as Torrey went back to Portland to resume the job he likes, which is most fortunate for him; to have the job he likes, that is. The good news with that is that he brought back my truck and I now can drive my little red truck. He has had it all winter as I was using the Oldsmobile (his car) to commute to work (better gas mileage and two riders to share with) the past winter. All I have to do is repair the exhaust system and check the brakes (a bit "soft" for some reason) so I can be happy with that.

The trees are budding out is my next reason to be happy, and that means I have survived another winter and I am looking at spring and summer behind it coming toward me. Again the camera has brought to my attention the parts of the world, the angles, the focus that I feel like I have overlooked or missed or maybe just not appreciated like they deserve for a long time. My art has been so much about the interior me and what I feel and sense that I have overlooked the obvious, I haven't engaged in the reality around me. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think the only way to make art is visual observation, in fact at this point in my life I'm not even a big fan of it. I think the really important things are inside of us and so even though I see the buds coming out on the branches of trees and I understand that they can be a metaphor for rebirth or coming out of a hibernation sleep, it's not the moment in time that I snapped a picture that is important. That photograph might be a perfect example of a part of a whole metamorphosis that takes place in the spring, but I'm much more interested in the whole and not in just one aspect. Hmmm, that seems clear as mud... hope you get it!

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