I come alive around the water. I grew up on the beach in San Diego, so I am particularly fond of the Pacific Ocean.
Living in the Washington State for more than 45 years now, I have had to be creative in fooling my psyche into believing all water is the same…beautiful, calming, energizing, inspiring.
I’ve actually done a pretty good job. Of course, the Pacific Northwest is a water paradise
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But occasionally, I still need to travel in search of water…
Mississippi River in NatchezA Lagoon in AlabamaPensalcola
And if I can’t get to a large body of it, I’ll settle for anything…
Street Anemones
PS I apologize for my complete lack of restraint!! Picking just one of almost ANYTHING is just too big a challenge for me these days.
I’m a Professional Childbirth Attendant. Almost 40 years so hundreds of births now.
But my photos are not about that kind of labor.
This is called Zen Bead Embroidery.
I started this one with the two tiny copper giraffes
You start with a color theme, or maybe a single button or charm or bead.
Next, collect and collect and collect some more, beads, buttons, rocks, shells, charms, tiny trinkets of any kind, until you have a gathered a bowl or box or pile full of the colors you want to use.
Then, settling as much as you can into a Zen mood, you simply start sewing things onto whatever size canvas/cloth you have chosen. No plan necessary. This is a moment to moment experience. No rhyme or reason. The only patterns will be those that occur to you or that simply emerge as you labor. There is no right, no wrong, and there are no mistakes.
You will spend however many minutes or hours you wish in each stitching session…until you know you are done.
Don’t worry if you cannot muster that Zen feeling. The stitching will assist you.
Or, if you have ever sat through someone’s labor and childbirth, you will already know how.
Frame, if you wish.
I wanted to be able to call this one Ocean so I just gathered blues and greens and whites for foam
If you figure out that you actually like doing this, you can even choose an image, and let yourself fill it in, Zen Bead Embroidery style.
And then, you can frame it, or keep it, or give it to your son, your original, 10 pound “labor of love” and tell him it is a “once in his life time” gift!!!
I officiated yesterday at a lovely outdoor wedding, with beautiful Mount Si as the back drop.
These shots are all before the real “action” for the day started.
First, there was the worrisome action in the sky, but the potential rain bearing clouds politely passed over before most of the guests arrived.
Then, while waiting for the ceremony to start, came the delightful, energy-releasing actions of these impatient flower girls.
But I can almost guarantee the action (though invisible) in this last photo is much more chaotic than the clouds or the dancing in the above photos, as this Groom awaits the beginning of his wedding.
My life is full of Art, but it is also full of artists who define “art” very differently from me.
My best friend is an expert, having studied and collected art for most of his life. He is also a very talented artist in his own right. We’ve had an ongoing debate for more than 40 years about what actually qualifies as art and who gets to define it. I know we are not alone in this disagreement.
“The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines art as “something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings.” My own definition of art is the sharing of one’s inner thoughts, feelings, emotions, visions, and struggles through multiple mediums.”
Wondering what all this has to do with “twisted”?
I think his choice of art is twisted…and I’m sure he thinks mine is invalidly defined as art in the first place.
The photo at the top of this post is a gift my best friend gave me many years ago. I’m sure it was expensive and to many, would be defined as art.
I just think it’s twisted.
He actually spent money on that piece for me, where as I bought myself these pieces.
Here are some more examples of “art” in his home and “art” in mine.
His is on the left, mine on the right
His choice on top
My choice is “twisted” artwork from my grandson, at 9 and then 11 years old.
Please don’t get me wrong. I am not saying my best friend is twisted. As a matter of fact, here is my newest absolute favorite piece of art, ironically, a gift from him. Not my chosen “style” by any means but he knew how moved I would be by this piece!
I, on the other hand, by the definition of many, am quite happily Twisted.
Here’s proof:
I mean, who runs for their camera before rescuing the cat stuck in the speaker cabinet???
And who focuses on the body of the dragonfly, rather than on the beautiful flowers?And who becomes obsessed with their new phone camera’s macro feature when accidentally shooting her sweat-pant leg?And who screeches her car to a halt to snap a photo of the shadow of windshield water on her dashboard?Who thinks the frosting stain on the cake box is the equivalent of a Jesus face on burnt toast?And who in the world photographs fungus??
I do, that’s who. So I will now officially, and gladly accept the adjective of TWISTED!
I am in great company, as you know if you have ever read The Shameful Sheep or Jennifer Day at The Iconophile, two of my favorite bloggers.
I really felt it while I was going through all kinds of contortions trying to photograph my friend’s art, including, taking his series called “the 7 deadly sins” into a dark closet to eliminate some of the reflection. Didn’t work, and besides, too creepy! This is as good as I could get.
This is a seriously twisted series and the photos are lousy!
It’s not just about art though.
Just the other day, a newish friend, while I was introducing him to my Bugs, asked me if I realized just how twisted it was for me to be this enthusiastic about them.
He has no idea. Even I know it is completely torqued to set up the photo shoots I have with my bugs.
Witness these, as examples…
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I won’t even get started on the debate we have about Photography as ART!!
Anyway, I know this is a long post, with a lot of photos, but the topic and the recent Daily Post announcement inspired me to do less censoring than I usually apply to my weekly photo challenge entry.
I’ll end on this note.
Initially, I was of like mind with many other contributors this week. I immediately thought of these things:
But then I allowed the word to take me on this unexpected journey.
For that, I wish to express deep gratitude to The Daily Press for your regular inspiration for so many posts!! I will really miss you.
Sincerely,
ChosenPerspectives
PS I have received many Twisted gifts over the years from other twisted folks. Here are a couple involving antlers…yikes.
