Today we lived fluid.
In her book, Journeyartfully: Secrets for Living an Artful Life, Pattie Ann Hale writes about “catching a whim” like a snowflake on your tongue and taking off on an adventure. Living fluid she calls it. More formal English speakers, while peering out from under arched brows, might speak of the unexplored soil of spontaneity.
This morning lying in bed with the sun illuminating the bold flowers on the faded draperies, I threw out a whim to see how it would land on the ears of the engineer.
“If I had my Saturday before Mother’s Day dream come true,” I told him, ” it would be a road trip to Tacoma and Olympia.” We would catch up with the James Nesbit Whirlwind Tour and stop by the Tacoma Art Museum to catch a whiff of the Southwest through the creative eyes of Georgia O’Keefe.
I am happy to report we did all this and more.
Living fluid is part of my process. The engineer graciously flows with it. So we off we went.
Something about Benjamin, a member of the Clallam Tribe, releasing the sound across the acres behind his home and James Nesbit inviting us to join in the movement, along with the flags and the colors and the art of Chihuly and O’Keefe set my day ablaze with glory.
What is a blog without photos?–but these I’ve pushed out a bit–pushing toward limits–dreaming and dramatizing them, that’s where they go.
The flags, brilliant in the sunshine caught the breeze and whirled like the wind.
The artist, who created the banner with the evergreen tree on it (above), later tied it onto the branches of a tree.
I came along and fastened my bell to a stub of a branch and then slowed down the shutter speed while moving the camera to create yet another piece of art.
Sound and Light morphed into fire with these flags.
Did I mention the feather that lingered in the sky?
The whirlwind panel was passed around and we all touched it anointing it with our DNA. Ben and Denise, our hosts, embraced beneath it’s fold and prayed.
As we drove off the property, I received the parting nod from this marvelous lone tree softening its color in post-processing.
Off we hurried to Tacoma and the TAM–Tacoma Art Museum.
Unfortunately, I could not photograph the O’Keefe’s but I will say that sitting and studying her white flowers with the negative space and the tendrils would have sufficed had that been the only piece of art I saw at the TAM. One of my favs, that I could photograph in the Haub Western Collection, was this piece by Birger Sandzen from 1954. Not surprising, it’s more trees!
I asked directions to the Chihuly Bridge of Glass just down the street. Not disappointed. I love color! Here was an abundance. I craned my head and shot image after image immersed in light and color. In the first panel, I softened the clarity, while in the second, I accentuated everything!
Pulling out the stops on sound and light today! Pushing the boundaries. Caught up in spontaneity–or fluidity! It is like the breath of fresh air and sunshine!
Leaving the cluster of museums, we noticed Mother nature showcasing her views with these white roses. They reminded me of Chihuly. I remember learning that Chihuly took much of his inspiration from his mother’s Tacoma garden.
By now the creative juices are flowing! Across the street on our way to dinner, I made a self portrait of the photographer in a reflective window.
Nearby, I caught some lovers strolling past the cupcake shop. What a way to end a perfect day. It’s nearly midnight, as I happily reflect on our day of catching a whim and taking an adventure. It’s all a part of the process.
