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| Butterfly Amaryllis |
Monet painted over and over the water lilies in his garden pond. When I lived in Washington, D.C. I had the opportunity of standing before two of his water lily compositions at the National Gallery of Art. They were wall size - floor to ceiling and placed on two walls that met in a corner. Standing there you felt surrounded by his subject and just a bit overwhelmed.
Artists do repeat themselves with a subject that entices until they feel they gotten it right. Beginning on January 15th I took numerous photographs of my Butterfly Amaryllis as it has bloomed, withered and then bloomed and withered again.
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| Post Processed |
I have tried different angles, different effects and even gone black and white for a subject that seems to be all about color.
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| Spreading its wings |
The Butterfly Amaryllis is difficult to photograph because it always blooms in twins and is huge from tip of one flower to the tip of the other. And the depth of each blossom is almost four inches.
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| Dying Swans |
As the second set of twins slowly opened I found my photographer's eye drawn to the withering blossoms of the first set of blooms.
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| Taking a bow |
Even fading from its full glory it maintains wonderful color and grace. I could not trim the husks from the plant as my mother would have advised because they were still magical expressions of nature.
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| Turning away from the light |
I think of all the pictures I took of this flowering event in my studio the one above is my favorite in its utter simplicity and to me statement of a profound moment. I found this dying blossom as it wilted and turned away from the light spoke volumes to me of the process of living things. And in the ability of artists to delve deeply into one subject through repetition. My one question, however, is do we ever get it totally right?
I never really thought about it, but I do repeat myself quite a lot in my artwork too!!!! I just thought I was a tad bit slow, okay, more than a tad bit.
ReplyDeleteI love your flower study, and thoroughly enjoy your narrative. For the me, the two are inextricably entwined.
To answer your question, I shall pose another:
"How CAN we humans get it right?"
For me, the supposition would indicate humans are the primogeneter of A CREATIVE POWER now deceased.
I can't buy that.
I can, however, be in process along with everything else. That is where the juice is. Process.
I rather think of myself like a reporter. I observe, take IT in (whatever the IT is), then do something with IT to share with the rest of the world.
An artists job is to report their reality to others, and in so doing, they create pathways for others to follow. Whether anyone ever sees IT, interacts with IT, or knows of ITs existance is immaterial. The IT is part of the whole of creation and by ITS very existance, changes the world.
I love to view the world through other people's eyes.
You rock.