Perhaps things are shifting. It is possible that the old paradigm has cracked to allow for rebirth and renewal on both an individual and universal level. Maybe we have become achingly aware that transformational moments in life are often not planned or controlled but often catch us when we least expect them. While we stumble through the patchwork of cobbled-together routines from the ashes of the combusted, once-airtight schedules of “before”, beautiful happenings can seemingly halt time for a moment. As we toil dazedly amid a sense of loss for things eternally altered, we can remember that nature teaches us how, time and again, new life bursts bravely forth from decay and searing destruction. A cathartic rebirth, a moment of epiphany, in a forest scarred by wildfire or a human spirit beautifully resculpted by pain.. It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention (cr: Plato), so perhaps, somehow, suffering is the foster parent of personal and spiritual growth? (cr: myself).
Our most awakened moments can be fleeting, transient, imperfect, yet somehow, perfectly beautiful. Beauty “as is” just happens, waiting to be discovered around unexpected corners, and if we are in a place of openness and readiness to receive the miracle of beauty, we are struck by the random discovery of artfulness and order in the midst of disorder and chaos. A tree, a flower, a line of poetry, can temporarily transport us out of mundaneness into moments of enchanted bliss. While day after day we take in news that can go from bad to worse, art and life mirror one another and beckon from across the abyss, offering an opportunity for a shift. From the ashen landscape emerges acceptance of how little we actually control, to a nurturing space of surrender… beckoning us to temporarily lose ourselves in mystical beauty amid all her dreamy melancholy and tranquil spiritual longing.
My hope is that you let yourself wander and lose track of time for awhile here, to unplug and take in images that I hope can offer a moment of connection and uplift you. Hope you enjoy! And please, feel free to leave a comment below.. I’d love to hear from you!
-Amy Beth Cooper-Smith, North Texas based artist, photographer, wife, and mother of a dreamy (almost) 9 year old boy with roots in Michigan, wings in California, and finally, a garden in Texas.