The Fabric of Earth

The Fabric of Earth - c Lynda Lehmann


This is an old photo I took years ago when flying home from Arizona, where I'd had an extended visit with my family.  It's not a great photo. I shot it with a digital point-and-shoot that probably captured less than 5 mega pixels.  So it's grainy, as well as having been shot through the airplane window.  The funny thing is that when I found this image while cleaning out some Photoshop files tonight, I remembered that very moment when I glanced out the plane window and saw this spectacular view of mountain ridges (which I presume were the Rockies).  I had that wonderful impulse of Joy, expressed by a quiet "Wow!" that we all get from time to time when we see something awesome and beautiful.  We have a sense of its largess and significance, although we might not be able to define why.

It seems that somehow, taking photos not only reminds me of a given moment in time, but that I can also, often remember my state of mind, even that very moment of Consciousness, that fleeting minute during which I was treated to a glimpse of something Profound.  I knew I was seeing something important, because it gave me pause, not only to feel a sense of joy, but to contemplate the Wonder of the Universe, the Wonder of Being.  And so I must conclude that taking photos of the natural world cements my Consciousness in Moments of Beauty, anchoring me more closely to the Heart of Life, if you will.

When I'm lying on my death-bed, I don't want to define myself by my riches, possessions or popularity.  I don't even want to define myself by the highs and lows of my art journey, or by how I assess whatever successes or failures I may have had.

I want to define myself by my relationships.  That means relationships with other individuals,  those outside myself with whom I have chosen to spend segments of my life, and by my Relationship with the Universe.  This will depend on how many Moments of Beauty I have beheld (to use an old-fashioned word) and how many I've taken into my Soul that will forever Enrich, Inspire, and Nourish me, even as I pass from this Earth.

NOTE:  I've capitalized various words to give them emphasis.  Not proper usage, I know...

NOTE: You can click on each photo to see a larger version. All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my sites at http://LyndaLehmann.imagekind.com/ or http://www.absolutearts.com/lyndalehmann/ if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. You can find a list of my other sites and links in my blog's sidebar. Or google my name for more links. I hope you enjoyed your visit!

Enchantment Before Twilight

Bathed in Evening Light - Lynda Lehmann c 2011

 
NOTE:  I have picked these two photos from my archives to post with this poem, as I could not shoot while paddling.  But they don't do justice to the beautiful play of light, water and sky I witnessed on this occasion.  Nor do my words suffice, but I write them in homage.

Enchantment

Thunderheads form and morph: vast cumulonimbus canyons turn from white to gray to orange or silver-rimmed.  They stand silent, at a distance.  Evening sunlight's warm caress, wraps a golden light over the emerald island: a jewel-like scene that seems to shimmer with benevolence and promise.  Verdant glowing hues band outward from the island's shore, reflected with sky tones and bands of gold and black in the flowing stream.

Pale violet clouds in cauliflower forms bifurcate and move higher, until they reach the towering nimbus state.  
So far beneath them, paddling the lake in my tiny blue kayak, I feel my smallness.  
Each dip of my paddle brings up droplets that make whirlpools as they fall back onto the water's surface.  A line of whirlpools ripples smaller as each moves forward from the first set of spreading circles.  I can hear each drop fall and watch it meld.  Ensconced in the drama of whirlpools and lace-like water doilies, my boat is couched in a pattern of of subtle movement: energy waves strong enough to be visible, yet insignificant to the larger universe.  Yet, with my persistent stroke, I have made them.  I watch the forms disperse as they merge back into the infinite and undulating sea. I do not have the power of nimbus clouds, but I make my own music, just the same.
I feel complete, ensconced in the luxury of light show and water symphony, while the sky plays its pastel counterpoint.  
It's hard for me to believe there's room for conflict, greed, and suffering in this world, while I am surrounded by all that seems holy.  
-- Poem c Lynda Lehmann 2011 

Enchantment - Image c 2010 Lynda Lehmann

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission from me, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my sites at http://www.absolutearts.com/lyndalehmann/ or http://LyndaLehmann.imagekind.com/ if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. Or you can Google my name to see my other sites and links. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog.

Whispers and Lake Shadows

Glory Sky

Night Rhythms

Dusk

Twilight Solace

Burnished

WHISPERS AND LAKE SHADOWS

A passing loon cuts a wide swath across the lake, shining more smooth and white-silver in the expanse.

Water glows in sparkling, vast ribbons here, shimmers in tiny fish-scale patches there, moves in undulating bands of black in other places.

Where does the shimmer begin? ...Or the glow end? There are merging points invisible to me; forces incomprehensible to me; power hidden from me yet apparent by its echoes and traces.

I am not a holy person but I am surrounded by the Holy. I rejoice in my smallness and ignorance, glad that the Largess of the universe holds a place for me.

Are all these etchings of wind, current, deep-water spring, and journey, the realm of the snapping turtle and the silent bass who glides under the dock? Or do they hold a note of truth for me, as well?

--Poem c Lynda Lehmann 2010

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission by Lynda Lehmann, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary art site www.lyndalehmann.com if you would like to see my paintings and more of my photography and digital art.

"B" is For Barnside Beauty

One day last week during one of my routine "errand tours." I noticed the sunlit facade of a weathered old barn. I was stricken with the stunning variations that caught my eye, from the color changes to patterns and textural variation, in the wood. This facade was indeed like a permutation on the theme of aged wood. I was mesmerized.

This post shows several views of the same building, composed differently. The building has been patched, doctored, improvised upon, and altered through the decades, giving it even more interest. The original slats of siding are punctuated by the addition of glass, wire, and plexiglass, making it a repository of makeshift repair methods. You will note that none of these attempts detracts from the battered, antique quality of the wood.

I think I would define beauty as an aesthetic experience in which one's attention and perception are arrested and jolted out of everyday context and functioning, by a sensory stimulus (in this case, a visual) that causes one not just to pause, but to feel something akin to awe. Embedded in this kind of experience is, perhaps, a recognition of what C. S. Lewis called the experience of the "numinous."

C.S. Lewis was born into a Christian family. He became an atheist before he turned agnostic. At the age of 33 he became a believer, through exactly this kind of experience (couched in a deep joy through his visual and other sensory apparatus) which he considered to be evidence of a Greater Being, or God. He is perhaps best know for his children's series "The Chronicles of Narnia," but his writings on Christian religious views are extensive beyond his fiction works. My feeling when reading a few of his books was not that he was focused so much on a particular (in this case, Christian) view of the universe, so much as on the prevalence of what seem like miracles: phenomena of awesome beauty that reveal a great procreative power at the center of the universe.

C. S. Lewis' books are not easy reading, but I would recommend them to anyone interested in exploring religious and philosophical viewpoints.

Please note that on those occasions when I blog about religion or politics, I'm not espousing any particular belief system, merely exploring ideas in the spirit of sharing and communication.


All text and images c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can buy my prints plain or matted and framed.