Thinking about today's world, we need to experience peace and beauty to soothe our souls. Take us away from tales of the madman in The White House. Take us away from images of the obliteration of Gaza. Push news about Sudan and Ukraine into the background. Blank out personal worries closer to home about health and family and money. Yes beauty can be a kind of medicine. Healing, sedating, a prism.
And so in the vast Google library I sought a picture that would speak of beauty. I came up with the one shown above. It is in the Saatchi collection and it's called "Old But Beautiful". It was created by J.S. Ellington who is a resident of Abilene, Texas. She was born in 1948 and worked as a pharmacist for thirty seven years before pursuing her real passion - painting.
Of "Old But Beautiful" she said this, "The landscape features an old barn I have painted before from different angles and in different seasons. I am so attached to these old structures. I imagine that one was made by the hands of the rancher that owned the land long ago, but it has remained standing, no longer useful but beautiful. I hope the viewer will feel a sense of solitude and peace and will be lost in reverie about a time when there was more activity and life around this old structure."
Abandoned and tumbledown buildings also inspire me as many of my past photographs have shown. Such buildings speak exquisitely, beautifully, silently of those who went before and the lives they lived there.
Okay, so that's visual beauty but what about aural beauty?
When I was sixteen or seventeen, I heard an album by Vashti Bunyan. She was an almost legendary hippy figure who travelled to a commune on Scotland's west coast aboard a gipsy caravan pulled by a horse. Along the way, she wrote the simple songs that would later form her first album.
The title track was "Just Another Diamond Day". It is a short and simple song that speaks of innocence. You can almost hear the horse trotting and the caravan's wheels trundling along. Back then in 1970 I thought it was such a pleasant song - disconnected from mainstream music. In fact, I suppose that I longed to be riding in that caravan with Vashti, strumming my guitar or holding the horse's reins as a rainbow arced above the hills.
I do like that painting, lovely colors. I had never heard of Vashti before, the music is sweet and haunting and her voice ethereal.
ReplyDeleteI am pleased that you also found Vashti "haunting" and "ethereal". There was something very different about her.
DeleteThat painting is lovely. I have to look for beauty around me to keep my sanity in today's world. Music helps, too. I think you told me once you were not a fan of Yes in your youth, but their Close to the Edge album has always brought me peace.
ReplyDeleteI once saw Yes in concert and enjoyed their set even though it wasn't really my kind of music. I was more into singer songwriters.
DeleteBeautiful painting and song! Yes, beauty soothes our souls and should be sought out at every opportunity.
ReplyDeleteI guess it is why people visit your blog Debra.
DeleteBeautiful things help us to stay in the game. We each have our own sense of beauty.
ReplyDeleteI know you love birds Red.
DeleteBy the way in England, "bird" can be a slang term for a woman.
This paragraph in your post expresses exactly what I feel about such structures (as you know):
ReplyDelete"Abandoned and tumbledown buildings also inspire me as many of my past photographs have shown. Such buildings speak exquisitely, beautifully, silently of those who went before and the lives they lived there."
The song and Vashti's voice are sweet. I can easily imagine you singing that same tune to your grandchildren, maybe making up your own words as you go along.
I almost mentioned you at that point in my text. By the way, Vashti Bunyan is now 80 years old.
DeleteI love the rust patina on corrugated iron buildings. They are like Autumn shades. Nice post.
ReplyDeleteI agree that rust can have a certain beauty about it.
DeleteWe all see beauty in different things. It is interesting to see what others consider to be beautiful and to appreciate how much our perceptions can differ.
ReplyDeleteA wise point.
DeleteAnd then there is the beauty of ideas. e.g. the origin of the species.
ReplyDeleteYes. A good book can transport us - away from the battlefield.
DeleteOld but beautiful. I thought you were writing a post about me. With so much horrible news around at the moment, we certainly need a lot to calm us.
ReplyDeleteIt is easy to become steeped in all the horror and worry. We owe it to ourselves to nourish our minds with some nicer "food".
DeleteOld but Beautiful reminds me of the dilapidated tobacco barns around here. They make good subjects for paintings and photographs.
ReplyDeleteThe beauty that helps me deal with the bad stuff is found outdoors this time of year. Working in the garden, watching the bluebirds build a nest in the old nest box, sunset walks...those things are a balm.
You should do a tour of the deep American south. You will see hundreds of old, abandoned buildings from sheds to cabins to once-majestic houses.
ReplyDeleteI do not remember Vashti. Perhaps she never made it across the ocean.
Old but beautiful, and an image of you didn't pop up in the search results?
ReplyDeleteWe all need to take time and look at and listen to things that make us happy. I don't want to live in the darkness all day every day.
ReplyDeleteI always find solace and distraction in a good book. I've just finished The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. It's so beautifully written..highly recommend. X
ReplyDeleteI lost a friend yesterday. A woman I have known since high school died suddenly. I'm hoping she didn't feel pain. I will miss her stories and laughter.
ReplyDeleteMy country is a mess and it is hard to be calm. Beauty, music, walks and nature can help but the sadness is still there.
the philistine in me thought the picture you showed us looked like a Bob Ross painting..... i've heard this song before, it's very nice.... a nice bit of distraction and brightness in a world that can easily become oppressive and gloomy
ReplyDeleteWe all experience beauty in individual ways and it is essential for our well-being that we embrace what pleases us.
ReplyDeleteIt is probably wise, and even necessary, to take a rest from the chaotic World News every now and then and focus on something calming and beautiful. I've never heard of neither the artist nor the singer in this post of yours before.
ReplyDelete“ bout today's world, we need to experience peace and beauty to soothe our souls.”
ReplyDeleteToo right