Time for a little nap, in a warm and comfortable place. Cats know what they are about! My thanks to this cat Burano, who so nicely dozed in a place that was good for my artistic composition. Learn from cats – when in doubt, nap!
What do these colors make you think of?
Today my son Brandon picked out the picture for the post. This is part of a building and window in, where else, Burano! I loved the bright, unlikely color combination and the hint of the items for sale in the shop window.
I asked Brandon what these colors make him think of, and he answered flowers. My answer is: they remind me of a party! How about you? What do these colors make you think of?
Functional Beauty
Security and art, all in one. If you are going to have bars on your windows, you might as well make them pretty. That seemed to be the theme in Assisi.
This is the first of images from our vacation last week to Assisi, Orvieto, Civita di Bagnoregio and Rome. I’ve barely, barely scratched the surface of images from this trip, this is going to be a fun but time consuming adventure!
Colors of Nice
Apartment windows in the old city of Nice, France.
As I sort through my photos from Nice, I’m seeing a trend. My photos of our short time in Nice are all about color… the blue of the sea, the warm pinks and yellows of the buildings, the green of the palm trees and the plants, the bright colors of the flower market, the shades of the special soaps, the deep blues and bright yellows of Chagall paintings. So many brilliant colors, all in one place! Not gaudy overwhelming color, but natural, like the plumage of a parrot. All tropical and sunny. Maybe it was the sun and the spring feel of the weather that drew me to the colors, but I think maybe it’s just the personality of Nice.
Evening Window
Evening comes slowly on, the light fading to a beautiful glow over the palm trees. The city, the sea, the trees.
We were back in our room at the hostel in Nice early on Saturday because Brandon wasn’t feeling well and wanted to nap. I was trying to capture the view and evening light from our window but couldn’t quite get the angle I wanted with the palm tree and cityscape and sea all in there. Until I noticed the reflection in the window, just perfect. With a window to frame it all and give it a sense of place.
Sometimes it takes a problem to come up with a creative solution. You don’t think you want the problem to begin with, until you see the solution and realize that you would never have gotten to that place any other way. That’s what I see in this image, a much more interesting story than if I could have lined up the palm tree just right with the city and sea. Lucky me!
Color is like Music
“Color is like music, it uses [a] shorter way to come to our senses, to awake[n] our emotions.” I quite can’t read the name of the quote’s author in this photo, but I loved the quote and the color of this house in Burano. I’m sure every tourist that walks by it takes a photo of this. It captures your eye.
But, fun picture aside, I agree with the quote. I have been toying with this idea that there is a “soul language” that each of us has, a language that is a shortcuts our brain circuitry to our heart and soul. It gets past all of our outer layers of shoulds and shouldn’ts, our learned responses and expectations from our family, our friends, our culture, whatever. To a place where your response is truly you.
My soul language is visual imagery. Whether it be color, composition, light… It’s one of the reasons I love photography and painting and any other type of visual art. It speaks to me.
A while ago, I was reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and feeling guilty. She loves the Italian language just for it’s sound. Came to Italy to live and learn and experience the language (ok, and the food). There are lots of people who do this, so my brain was asking me, “Why aren’t you so excited about learning Italian? Here you are in Italy for two years, every opportunity to immerse yourself, but you aren’t taking advantage of it!” Complete guilt mode. Then I realized – that’s not my soul language. Elizabeth Gilbert is a writer, words and language are probably her soul language, not mine.
I can immerse myself in the art and visual beauty of Italy and get just as much out of the experience, because it’s my soul language. What’s yours?