Monday, February 23, 2009

February 23, 2009

"Flowers arouse in us an instinct to protect them, to appreciate them and to shelter them. The world is too ugly, too violent. There should be something delicate to care about. To do so is to be lifted above the brute and to go toward the refined...

The tenderness of flowers arouses mercy, compassion and understanding. If that beauty is delicate, so much the better. Life itself is fleeting. We should take time to appreciate beauty in the midst of temporality."

#51 Beauty
365 Tao: Daily Meditations
Deng Ming-Dao

5 comments:

Pat said...

Thank you Jane for posting this. I believe this is the reading you gave in class last week. I didn't get it copied and hoped to see it again. It is a perfect meditation for the work I do and the work I do with other women.
Thank You,
Pat

Sharon Auberle said...

beautiful website, Jane
so glad I found you!

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite things about the grocery store that I go to is that the floral department has displays near the entrance that I use. I stop and look, smell, feel, appreciate the beauty of the flowers and especially at this time of year(spring won't be here for at least a month). I get this feeling of tenderness and nurturing when I stop to smell the flowers. This reading reminded me of this bit of respite in my busy day. Thank You Jane! Diane

Jackie said...

What a gem you are? Along with beautiful images, poignant and meaningful words. (I've been enjoying Stephen Mitchell's Tao and I've just placed an order for this one, thanks.) But beyond meaning is the photo--the focal point is moved yet again--that rich red in the lower right. A great range of values with the ubiquitous red and green. I think the lines and shapes of petals and stems move us around and back. Well done! and Thank you.

Fay's Fun said...

How can such a simple photo evoke such feelings of sadness, and of "yesterday" ?????
Perhaps the yellow coming into the sepals, perhaps the downward curve of the stems, perhaps the soft downward curving texture of the largest petal..........
Thanks Jane
fay

November 20, 2008

November 20, 2008

November 20, 2008

How does color set a mood? The soft gray and white of the carpet, the cat Marshall, and the sunlit window contribute to to the sense of calm repose. What does blue mean to you or me? We all have symbolic associations for colors; some based on personal experience and some instilled culturally. 

The cobalt blue of the vase provides a point and counterpoint to the composition, in addition to providing elements that balance.
Keeping the cat in the lower third of the composition weights the image and is another visual door into the picture world.

November 19, 2008

November 19, 2008

November 19, 2008

This picture tells several stories. It references the human desire to order the world around us - the lettering on the wall establishes the alley as a No Parking zone, and the broken glass-  jutting out at the top - is another message of fear and frailty. Whoever lives behind this wall wants to be left alone.

But there is beauty in the contrast of the rough brick surface and the smooth translucency of the broken glass bottles. A contrast of textures makes for an interesting composition. And the abstract nature of the printed letters against the structure of the bricks would be worth emulating in another sort of composition.

There is as much beauty in decay as there is in a bouquet of fresh flowers. And aren't decay and fresh growth just two different spots on the same continuum?



November 18, 2008

November 18, 2008

November 18, 2008

The Hydrangeas offer a lesson in the effective use of color. The pale blue and lavender are roughly the same value, so they balance each other beautifully. I am challenged to mimic that combination of analogous colors on silk Habotai!

This photograph would be considered beautiful even without the red-orange and yellow flowers at the bottom. But the addition of the complements to the blue and purple creates a focal point and generates some nice contrast because of the complementary pairing. And imagine how different this composition would be, were the red-orange and yellow at the top instead of at the bottom. The current placement adds important visual weight.

November 17, 2008

November 17, 2008

November 16, 2008

November 16, 2008
Being and Non-being

Substance and Light

November 16, 2008

We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside 
that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the space inside
that holds whatever we want.

We work with being,
but non-being is what we use.

Tao te Ching; Verse 11
Stephen Mitchell translation