“I also appreciated ordinary things-the color of a flower, the shape of a leaf.  Because I was in that bed so long, I was in awe of how beautiful the flowers were.  How beautiful the pool water was.  I’m still finding beauty in these things.  I still see them as wonderful and amazing, how perfect so many things are and how a creator could do all that” .

                                                  Sally

I read an article in a newspaper about Sally.  She had surgery and due to complications was put into a medically induced coma, for five months.  Three times the family was called to come to the hospital to say goodbye to her.  Yet she survived all these experiences which ‘taught me to look for miracles in life’. And as the above quote goes, one of the miracles she experienced was being able to look at flowers, water and everyday things in her experience as beautiful.  Maybe in one sense she was able to ‘look at things as if for the first time’.

I’m not Sally, but in some way was it facing the loss of life that helped her to see the beauty in the colors and shapes of everyday things that she took for granted before her illness?

Have you or anyone you know experienced something similar?  If so, that’s a precious gift.  On the other hand, I don’t believe that you need to face the loss of life to be able to look at something and find beauty in     colors, shapes, light and shadows of everyday scenes and objects.

Can you look for something this week in your surroundings and look to learn or notice something about these surroundings that you didn’t notice before?  If so, that’s great.  Do you want to sit with this moment of notice, think about it, review it in your mind and savor that moment no matter how large or small or do you want to move on?

Some Ideas of Things to Look for?

All of us are experiencing a change of seasons, whether we are in the Northern Hemisphere with the sun lowering in our sky, or in the Southern Hemisphere with the sun path rising in the sky.  Painters, photographers and other visual artists talk about the light and shadows in their work.  They notice what area of their painting or photo is in direct light, or indirect light which can be a little darker, or the darker shadows.

During sunrise wherever you are, if the sunlight comes into your house, where is the light landing?  In my house, during the summer, the early morning light fell on my door.  Now in the fall, the light falls on my nearby bookcase.   And now, the light falls on my hands when I prepare breakfast.  How about where you live?  At the sunrise time period, are the shadows outside long or short?  Look again around noon. Are they shorter or longer?

If you’re in a cloudy area, do you see a mist outside?  Is the mist a little lighter or darker than the nearby area? Do you see different shades of grey?  Do you see a little blue color in the grey?  Are the clouds one color of grey, or are the clouds, grey, white and open sky blue?  One day I was driving in the rain and I drove to the top of an overpass, a bridge of sorts, and I loved the scene before me.  The sky was all grey.  Really the whole scene was different shades of grey with a shade of blue in the distance and lighter grey in the distance.  I loved it all.

A couple other questions.  Where is the sun at dusk, as the sun goes down?  Where are the lighter areas and where are the darker areas in the scenes before you?

Did you notice anything?

I hope so.

I believe that if you can find beauty and awareness of visual features in your surroundings, your ability to appreciate art will change and increase.

Aluna Joy sent me a business card from her business, http://www.alunajoy.com, and I loved the message, ‘Act as if everything is Sacred’.  I think Sally found this way of thinking and when I can sense the sacred in things, I think I find more beauty.  This isn’t necessary  for anyone to sense beauty, but it may help.

Copyright (c) 2013-2014 by Lynn Fosnaught.  All rights reserved.  You may translate, link to or quote this article, in its entirety, as long as you include the author’s name and a working link back to this website: http://artappreciationandmore.com.  Any other use of this article is prohibited.