From This Mind
Tag: feelings
A Sound So Pure…
The power of Wind Chimes can be amazing.
I’m not sure if they have the same effect on you as they do me, but almost every time I hear them, one of two things happen:
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They remind me of something beautiful that happened previously in my life and my mind is cast back to that time and I remember the experience with fondness.
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My imagination starts to wander and my mind thinks of beautiful experiences to come.
There is also something inherently pure about their sound, too. It’s like an ‘original score’ that perhaps can never be repeated given that the wind blows in different strengths at different times from different directions.
I’ve also found them to be a great ‘mood lifter’ as well and why wouldn’t they be given the effect they have on me.
We were given a wind chime for Christmas (pictured below). I can hear it now. Such a beautiful sound.
How do they make you feel?
Written by David Johnson
20 January 2019
Solemn Moments
Deep Within Our Eyes
From Distant, Great Times Passed…
Walking, As I Do…
Journey Of A Lifetime!
Photography has been a passion of mine for 35 years, though since 2010 (when I did a basic Drawing course and started dabbling in Painting), Drawing and Painting have been slowly increasing in interest for me.
For the first time ever, this year, I have spent more time painting than I have photographing… Wow!
They are two very different mediums, with some similarities, particularly since Digital impacted photography. Painting cannot compete with the immediacy of photography, however, photography (since the Digital onslaught) has become almost machine gun-like, in that where a lot of photographers churn out numbers in the hundreds and the thousands when they go out to take photos.
There are or course photographers who do not take this approach to photography. They give serious consideration to the idea before they even pick up their camera to shoot the image or image series.
These photographers remind me of the painter who gives serious consideration to the idea and plans the painting accordingly. They need to decide on the composition, the story, the colours and the lighting etc. They pre-visualise just like the Black & White/Monochrome Darkroom photographers of yesterday did. Some still do.
Sitting in front of a computer (for me) editing image after image just isn’t as exciting or as fun as sitting in front of the canvas and creating.
This did surprise me somewhat, being a passionate photographer for as long as I have been. Recently, a photographer friend went on an overseas trip for a few weeks and took 8,000 digital images. 8,000! Having to review that many images from the trip are a real turn-off for me.
I’m still passionate about photography, though in different ways than above.
So, why I am attracted to Drawing and Painting?
- They slow me down. They force me to think about what I am doing, what I am endeavouring to create, much like using an old TLR (Twin Len Reflex) on a tripod and taking the time to explore a scene with the eyes and the mind instead of firing off shot after shot with a DSLR…
- It really takes you back to basics i.e. just using the mind, the limbs, pigments and paper/canvas. It is a challenge to create something uniquely yours without the high-flying technology. This excites me!
- We, humans, spend our lives these days ‘tied to technology’ via our ever-present mobiles (cell-phones), tablets and other digital devices. Sitting in front of the canvas or creating in my Journal allows me to disengage.
- I was thinking the other day that one can’t get much closer to the raw beginnings of hand-made Art than Drawing, Painting (or indeed Sculpture). The cave-dwellers picked up a rock or some other pigmented material and started to draw/paint.
Drawing and Painting takes one back to the early days of Art, the person, tool, pigment and the imagination.
What you draw, paint or photograph depends on your genes, your environment, what influences your thoughts and actions and your beliefs etc just like those cave-dwellers.
In that respect, only the tools and Mankind’s thoughts and advancement have changed.
In regards to drawing and painting, I am in the early stages of my journey. I feel it’s a journey that I will be on for the rest of my life. Exciting times are ahead!
Written by David Johnson
30 December 2017
Poetry – Music To My Ears!
As a child, I was interested in Poetry, and that interest grew throughout my teens, into my twenties and beyond to the current day.
In a previous post, I mentioned how much I love Libraries. I have lost count of the number of poetry-related books I have taken out of libraries over the last 45+ years.
Somewhere along the line, I acquired a taste for rhyming poetry and it is still my favourite kind, although I am starting the explore non-rhyming poetry of late.
Libraries are still great, apart from the obvious problem of having to return the books!
The Internet is, of course, a Goldmine. I’ve listed some sites at the bottom of the post that readers might like to explore.
Whilst the Internet is a wonderful resource, I’m one of those old-fashioned people who still love the feel of holding a book, and so, over time I’ve picked up the odd poetry book.
I picked up two more books to add to my collection, last weekend.
– The Golden Book of Modern English Poetry – Everyman’s Library – 921.
It features 500 Poets.
– Selected Poems and Letters of Emily Dickinson – Edited by Robert N. Linscott
Reading poetry helps me to tune out from the world. I disappear into the poem and let my imagination run wild.
On August 2013, I started to write my own poetry. I write to explore my thoughts and feelings that I have about life, the Universe and everything.
Poetry is really ‘Music to my Ears!’
Written by David Johnson
28 November 2017
Individuality
Clarity and Vision
Communicating Creatively 