Saturday, May 4, 2013

Guided Meditation #3 from the Thoreau Farm Contemplative Stroll....


Guided Meditation #3

To be an artist it is necessary to live
with your eyes wide open,
to breathe in the colors of
mountains and sky, to know
the sound of leaves rustling,
the smell of snow,
the texture of bark.

-Jan Phillips

Thoreau was acutely aware of the various visual elements of the landscape.  Color, patterns, texture and shape allowed him to catalog the natural world.

Connections

·        Let yourself focus on one of the visual elements…Line, Shape, Color, Value (the play of light and shadow), Texture or Space.

·        Look carefully at the area around you for examples of that element.

·        Make your first image from where you sit then get up and move closer and closer making photographs as you go.  Get as close as your camera will allow.

·        Try another visual element if you wish or move on to your next meditation…

You may also want to try this in each of the four places you visit today focusing each time on a different element or concentrating on only one. (This is always a good way to approach the landscape in a contemplative way wherever you are.  It keeps you fully focused and alert to the character of the place you are in and it offers many possible metaphors as well...like the above image.)

 


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