Saturday, April 9, 2011

Depths of possibility

This photograph is actually the wall of an abandoned house on Shaw, superimposed over a photo of the edge of our lagoon.  I love the suggestion of marshes and fishes, those little eddies of light in the middle section of the picture...

Why bother to explain?  Perhaps becausee we humans are so desperate to know what we are looking at.  Yes, we like surprises -- good ones, anyway -- but generally speaking we prefer to know exactly what we're getting into, what we're seeing, what we're hearing...

It 's fun to solve a puzzle -- we like the challenge -- but no one wants it to be too difficult.  No one wants to feel like a failure. And yet those of us who are reluctant to fail are often also reluctant to experiment -- and so, refusing to risk failure, we get stuck in one mode of being and never get to see the richness and depth of possibility that surrounds us.

When will we come to realize that it is our failures that so often tend to be the most productive lessons?  And when will we finally accept that failure is a necessary -- even desirable -- part of the gifts life has to offer?

2 comments:

Maureen said...

Love this image, Diane! My first thought was it's like a version of a Monet. I was looking earlier this week at the work of an artist who first photographs landscapes, edits and turns them into monotypes, then re-creates them in ready-to-print woodblocks. Your image has the same feel and look as his work. Incredible.

Louise Gallagher said...

I too thought Monet. I have a painting I did that is resonating -- I tend towards impressionistic realism when I paint, and I love painting water and water lilies.

You reminded me of when my daughters were young and they would draw. I was completely open to letting them express what they were drawing, rather than having to define -- a dog, a cat, a house. it was their interpretation that mattered, and they were fearless and I was open.

Note to self: Spend time today being fearless and open. release the need to interpret everything to fit inside a box.