Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Beauty....



...is in the eye of the beholder.

What is beauty? Can we define it? We know it when we see it or hear it or feel it, but what is it?

I suppose it's impossible to define because what warms the cockles of my heart may leave someone else cold. I may find beauty in a flower, a landscape, the building of storm clouds on the horizon, while others shrung their shoulders and walk away. For instance, I think the mass of thread in the picture above is beautiful and I'm looking forward to getting this painted warp onto the loom and weaving it off. Others find that thought scary!

So what is beauty? And why does the human soul seem to need it so much?

2 comments:

Sharon Schulze said...

Puts me in mind of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Repair" and the protagonist's struggle with quality... what is it?

And isn't it interesting that things can become more (or less) beautiful over time depending on our experiences with them? Love makes our loved ones beautiful to us even if others don't see it. Frustration and anger and conflict can make people and things ugly that might be perfectly fine.

One last thing... there's a book called "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." I didn't get through much of it but the part where she says that drawing is actually a way of seeing and once you learn to see all faces become beautiful.... that part has really stuck with me over many years. :-)

Peg Cherre said...

I agree that this painted warp is beautiful.