Friday, January 11, 2013

Some Thoughts on Growing Old

This is a piece I created for a show on aging  a few years back.The title is the first line,
" Some Thoughts on Growing Old". I like to use photo images with my calligraphy, not necessarily in a neat, linear mode. I enjoy some twists and turns, some  ups and downs,  as in life. This was one in a series of this style of calligraphic imagery I continue to enjoy using. It is a fairly large piece. I like working large, plus how do you shrink someone's life to something petite?  I asked my subject to tell me his thoughts on what is felt to grow older. I used his own words, except when I chose  to edit for profanity and artistic placement.
Today the process of life seems to be much on my mind. Why is that? Perhaps because there are birthdays floating around this January of  people that matter to me. That seems to be  a time for celebration of the true start of a person's real new year. Also, it can be a time to look back at what the last year did or did not accomplish for them. Possibly my friend's sorrow at the death of an older friend makes me remember how fragile life really is. All we have to do is look at our own photos to see the passage of our  life's journey. First our youth. Then the young adult, followed by middle age leading to the finale. This piece has outlived its subject.
So I am guessing it is a reminder to me about really listening to what I know. That is to appreciate and value what I do have right now, and never wait to express this to those I care about. 
More on my website at www.claywrite.com

1 comment:

  1. I enjoy the sense of an orderly flow of one's life in this piece. Every stage is to be experienced as a life in itself, yet grounded in the ones before and after. Thanks for the reminder!

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