I Am Here. In My Favourite Season.
Autumn Colours enjoyed at the Royal Botanical Gardens. 2022.
Sharing alternating photos of rich autumn colours and nature’s lines with photos taken through the fragmented lens of a skeletal leaf, during a recent nourishing nature stroll through the Royal Botanical Gardens.
Were you able to take a moment this beautiful autumn weekend?
I Am Here … in nature … in the present …
I slowly breathe … push my feet into the ground … and gently notice my body in nature…
I bring this into awareness … this sense of being ... my sense of being …
… this felt sense of connectedness
The discovery of a skeletal leaf brings an additional filter that creates fascinating images as I wander through the gardens …
I enter this space with wonder and curiosity … inspired …
I notice the changing colours … the richness … the vibrancy … the intensity …
As I soften my gaze and continue to breathe … I relax and immerse myself into this sensory space …
I notice the monochromatic and nuanced colours, forms and textures of nature in transition …
I shift my viewing reality through the fragmented patterns and veins of the skeletal leaf …
I Am Here … in my favourite season …
I play and create with colour, lines and texture …
I engage with the gestures and rhythms of nature …
I capture some of these abstract creations with the camera lens …
I admire nature’s handiwork …. and glorious in-progress creations
As I shift my gaze interesting shapes and lines sharpen and then diffuse …
I Am Here … grounded … rooted … connected ….
I connect with a universal energy of calm and ask myself to pause …
I notice the markings of each leaf and gently follow the lines like the patterns of my breath …
“We breathe air expelled from trees whose leaves are made of starlight
... Our veins echo the patterns of rivers, branches, and root systems.
We are not part of nature. We are nature.”
I allow myself to refocus and ground again when I become distracted by life worries…
I simply ENJOY the sudden bursts of colour …
I spend time with a sense of gratitude and care …
I discover heart forms within the layered shapes and shadows …
I arrive at the water’s edge and take some time to experience …
I Am Here.
Interwoven feelings of gratitude, joy, sadness and loss accompanied me into the Thanksgiving weekend this year. Connecting with nature gently reminded me of my blessings and nurtured my soul in such a meaningful way …
Also gratitude … although using different art modalities, the delicate layerings of Lisa Gignac’s journalling process and Patricia Ki’s washes and woven-thread art pieces, offered me subtle inspiration that informed my skeletal-leaf photos.
Healing Waters.
“The silver chord of life it’s true,
though seldom seen by me or you,
connects our body to our soul
and joins our spirit to the whole.
A glimpse of it we all can see
when silver waters flow quite free
with happiness straight from the heart,
or love so strong with tears we part.
Again, in times of heartfelt strife,
you see the chord that gives us life
as silver streams pour down our cheeks
as sadness from our soul now leaks.
These waters flow to heal our pain,
to ease the burdens of life’s game.
They clear the pathways for the soul,
a silver chord that joins the whole”
Healing Waters Poem Link Here.
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David Braley & Nancy Gordon Rock Garden
RBG Rock Garden • 1185 York Boulevard, Hamilton Ontario
