About a one year hiatus from the blog. I haven't anguished over the blog contributions necessarily but I sense that I must have missed many opportunities for personal growth and insight as a result of not contributing to it. Many missed moments of failing to study, investigate, ponder, and share within the context of the daily contributions and doing art routinely. To some degree, I have lost myself and my way along the path I intended. But it has been a year of Duty. A return to Duty. And long hours to stay on watch and station. Sometimes with duty and responsibility one can get caught up and lose the sense of self within. A triggering event and a moment of epiphany can re-instill a need to return to core values and activities. I have the sense that my Mission is accomplished in my present assignment. It is time to return to the Mission stated in "Impressions from Idle Acres" in a new phoenix.
Imperatives and ideas and wishes have been building but not acted upon explicitly. A resetting of priorities may be required to re-calibrate to the Original Outlook. A redirecting of Life Force and Energy is coming. It comes from the still, small Inner Voice whispering its guidance.
There are two images to share today that reflect my feelings after this year's hiatus from Impressions and may portend the future as well. "Winter's Discontent" depicts a solitary, dried corn husk amidst other fallen fruitless stalks located in an urban, curbside garden.
Original Photo: "Winters Discontent", Copyright James E. Martin 2014
The garden from which "Winter's Discontent" is taken seemed to be a feeble, half-hearted, but well-meaning attempt at balancing the modern life with a semblance of one of the basic values tantamount to the human endeavor. Growing one's own food is a basic value but, in this case, not in a quantity sufficient for annual survival and sustenance. This garden was a fleeting, false gesture. Perhaps it made one person feel good about their personal endeavor and there was some enjoyment of it. The photo was taken on an extremely frigid day with temperatures so low that it was startling to go outside and painful to remain outside. Taking the picture was awkward with bare hands to the camera controls. The depiction is after the fruitful harvest season of green, verdant opportunity in sunshine and rain and depicts the leftover remnants that remain in the cold, frigid season of days gone by. The opportunity for growth and nourishment is now past. Any kernels of well-being that remain are suitable for birds and field mice. If a new crop is to be sought, a new season and a new seeding is imperative. The Spring season of refreshing is near.
The second image is of "Winter's Urban Sunset" in the proximity of the garden and provides the feeling associated with the most recent leg of Duty's journey.
Original Photo: "Winter's Urban Sunset", Copyright James E. Martin 2014
Again, the setting of an old day in the urban environment with only the hint of a new dawn in the near term. The colors and layout of the sunset are captivating but only for a moment's enjoyment. Change is ever present and the enjoyable beautiful moment of Impression is momentary. The time is not yet here to know where the dawn will be seen from or what it will look like. And it will have to appear on a different horizon. One must turnaround in an opposite direction to see the dawn after the sunset.
My thought is to start a new blog with a new look that continues this self-taught artist's journey from "Idle Acres". Perhaps "
Impressionism from the Journeyman" seems appropriate. This morning I hobble up and shakily move forward but with some measure of internal mental determination, perseverance, and fortitude. The Daily Walk continues.
