Dear Juniper,
Oh the times, these days! Every single one feels an accomplishment. Each time I make it to my bed again I thank the gods. Keeping my mind in my imagination seems to be the only thing that helps. And resting, I’m needing so much rest.
How are you, my buddy? Are you well?
Remember I went on two overseas trips this year? I’ve never even been across the ocean before in my life, so this is a BIG DEAL to me! I adored my travels and replay them by going thru my photos, often. I found I have MANY photos of doorways. I knew I liked doors, but this must be part of my story.
I have a story! I love doorways!
Here’s one I found on a random charming street in a random adorable town in my beloved Spain.
What’s up with that arch? Maybe to allow air inside the chamber-room/secret passageway? And the portal/doorway is as small as it looks, on the ground, tiny. Like as tall as my knee. A door sized for a small creature? And where does it go into a room? Down some stairs? Into a labyrinth? A library?
Once while commuting home on my bike I saw a meeting of about 9 cats, in a field, near a line of trees. Maybe this door and whatever is inside is for a special secret society of cats. I think yes, that must be it.
So I imagine myself peering into the doorway, scooting a bit closer and a bit closer. I duck my head into the dark, my eyes fall into shadowspace and find this mysterious painting on the opposite wall.
What a gift, finding a painting cloaked in small door shadowland, the combination of my two loves doors and art. Let’s see what happens. Will you discover with me?
Of course this is Visual MedicineTM. An abstract interactive artform where all of creation can talk to me, thru the paint. It is mysterious, colorful, revelatory. Our teacher Suzette Clough created this life-changing artform.
This painting is a back-side. Those scratchy marks must have been part of the surface that got picked up from a previous session. To me, those marks make it look old. Cave-painting old. As if the best I can do is mark on the stone with another stone. No skill, just muscles pushing into rock, making my mark.
Or maybe the scratches come from the secret society of cats, their agenda for this gathering, or their club rules, or today’s menu.
Now, check out that yummy texture bottom left, it looks almost like stone and what I didn’t notice when I chose this piece is that it is portions of multiple paintings, echoing the piecing together of stones in the old wall.
Meeting places. Lives coming together. We gather. We don’t know who will show up. I often try to remember that any happenstance can make a stranger into a friend. All it takes is a traffic accident, the power going out, or standing in line at the DMV. Opinions can shift, connections are made, friendships are created, dashed, or deepened. Paint mixes, blends, overtakes, or turns into a completely different color.
We change according to what our friends do and think. They say we’re a combination of the 7 people we spend the most time with. When a friend dies or hurts us, there’s a tear in our world. Things don’t seem the same anymore or ever again. Layer upon layer of time, meaning, love, accommodation, and cooperation makes a third being, the friendship is made of you, me and our bond. Elementally art is made of the paint, paper, water, me, all in combination to end up the final piece of art.
That floating arch. A perfectly mysterious element, like much in the painting, like much in life, like much in the combination of two lives.
Will you wander with me, peering into portals, making art and connections?