by Marty Coleman | Jul 17, 2009 | Beauty - 2009, 2015, Ralph Waldo Emerson |
And so the week of beauty comes to an end. I feel more beautiful, do you?
A nice simple definition that rings true. I do think the love of beauty is about
taste. I also think it is about acquired tasted, in other words. There is
something to be said for being educated about something. All that means
to me is that you have had the patience and teachability to learn what
others know about something, understanding that there are subtleties to
appreciate in all areas of art, whether it be napkin drawings or opera.
It isn’t abandoning your taste to learn about the arts, it is building on it.
“The love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882, American writer
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 16, 2009 | Ezra Pound |
Day 4 at the beauty trough. I am not looking any better but I think
the drawings are. Should a drawing about beauty be beautiful?
So why then, if this statement is true, are so many cliche people and images
thought to be beautiful. Mediocre knock-offs of designs seen a million times
with no originality or spark are hugely popular. The women who spend
money on them think they are beautiful. The millions of beach babes who
work so hard to look like Pamela Anderson are showered with compliments
to their beauty. And if there isn’t a response, the guy goes on to the next
look-alike and showers her with the same compliments. The men doing the
showering think they are beautiful.
Questions:
- Aren’t there then cliches that are beautiful?
- What type of beauty is the author talking about here?
- How is the beauty between the cliches different?
- How do you find it?
- How do you discern beauty from cliche?
- Do you have any choice in what you consider beautiful?
“Beauty is a brief gasp between one cliche and another.” – Ezra Pound, 1885 – 1972, ex-patriot American poet
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 15, 2009 | Beauty - 2009, 2015, Rabindranath Tagore |
Day 3 in my week of beauty. Collect them all, win prizes!
There is something compelling about beauty. We want to possess it.
To a child, the beauty might be a flower, but it could just as easily be a
frog or a stone. It is filled with wonder and we want it. We want to touch
it and hold it and examine it and play with it. We want it to indulge in
it. The hardest thing to do is to let beauty just be. To enjoy the object,
person, event, whatever it is and not try to hold on to it, to capture it.
I know, I should talk. I am an artist and photographer. I spend my time
thinking about how to capture it. But I also have learned to let it pass by.
I have realized that there is an endless supply of beauty. I will never be
without it, I will never be unable to see it. I know from past experience I
have barely had a day gone by without seeing beauty. It might be the dress
my wife wears as she goes to work, it might be the way my cat is curled up
in the sun, it might be the incredible spiky beauty of the weed I haven’t
pulled in the backyard.
Try indulging in beauty today without trying to capture it. Let it walk by and
respond by just smiling and saying I am happy there is beauty in the world
and I got to experience it today.
“By plucking her petals you do not gather the beauty of the flower.” – Rabindranath Tagore, 1861-1941, Indian Author, Nobel Prize in Literature 1913.
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 14, 2009 | Beauty - 2009, 2015, Franz Kafka |
Day 2 in my week long series on beauty. If you have any great beauty
quotes send them along!
I love coming across explanations that just make perfect sense. This
one does. Being able to see (and appreciate) beauty is a sure sign a
person is curious, enthusiastic and joyful in his or her way of looking
at the world. It means they have the desire to explore because they
know there is a reward. The reward is beauty.
“Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” – Franz Kafka, 1883 – 1924, Czech writer
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 13, 2009 | Beauty - 2009, 2015, Jean Kerr |
I am starting a week of beauty. I know what you are thinking, ‘but you
are already so cute Marty, you don’t need a week at a spa’. You are
probably right. I think I will forego the spa and just spend the time
drawing and talking about beauty instead.
The idea of beauty is problematic for an artist. If the artist is to be
honest he or she would have to say that outer beauty matters to them.
After all, they are creating objects that have outer beauty. They are looking
at the outside of things and giving their interpretation of them. They
are attracted to beauty. Beauty, of course, is defined differently by each
artist, but it is still a searching for and appreciation of beauty. Not
inner beauty, but outer beauty. The appearance of things.
So, how does an artist reconcile that desire to linger and study objects
of beauty and create objects that are also beautiful with the desire and
need to see the hidden beauty in things and people? How does an artist
build that appreciation for deeper beauty, the inner beauty while promoting
the value and worth of outer beauty?
Good questions.
“I am tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin deep. That’s enough, what you do you want – an adorable pancreas?” – Jean Kerr, 1922—2003, American author and playwright
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 12, 2009 | Lewis Carroll |
Some people like silly, light absurdities. It makes them turn their head
like a dog not understanding. I saw the documentary ‘The Gates’ last
night, about the making of the Christo/Jean Claude art project in Central
Park, NYC. The commentary in the film among observers was between
the people who said ‘What’s it for, why do it?’ and those who said ‘Who
cares what it is for, it doesn’t need any reason. It just is. Enjoy the beauty
and the fun and the unexpected joy and feelings it brings.’
Earlier in the day, before breakfast, I went for a morning run along the Arkansas
River. I was running over a small bridge over a creek flowing into the river
when I looked up a bit. There in front of me, on the handrail of the bridge,
was a large black crane. It was looking right at me, with punk rock type
tufts of hair poking out from it’s head and yellow eyes. I stopped and said hello.
It didn’t respond. I reached into my run pack to get out my iPhone to take it’s
picture. It was camera shy and opened it’s big wings and flew down to the
creek. I said goodbye and kept running.
“Sometimes I have believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – Lewis Carroll, British Author (Alice in Wonderland)
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 12, 2009 | Mark Twain |
Being able to read isn’t a passport to anything. Reading is.
Know what ‘wabisabi’ means? I didn’t until this morning when a new
friend and I had a discussion about the beauty of what is, imperfections
and transience and all. Look it up.
“The person who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the person who can’t read them.” – Mark Twain, American Author, 1830-1910
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 10, 2009 | Dr. Seuss, Travel |
Hola Napkin Kin! Today is the last of my week-long series on travel.
Would love to hear your ideas for other week-long series when you have
the time. email me at marty@martycoleman.com or just post a comment.
I love to take trips when I can, whether it be by path, road, air or water
(road is my favorite). One of the main reasons is that I am a ‘noticer’ (thanks
to Erin for that recent designation of moi). I go somewhere and I notice the
different accents, products, clothes, food, store fronts, air, potholes, patterns
and ways of doing things. It is exciting to see all those new things, to notice
the differences, to experience the newness.
With the noticing comes education. I learn first how provincial I am. I get use
to my world, my town, my way of doing things. By traveling I learn that I am
small and the world is big. I get bigger when I realize that. And yes, I get a bigger
waistline too, from ‘noticing’ all the new food!
With education comes appreciation. I appreciate that the world is open to me.
I appreciate that I have a home and familiar places I can return to. I appreciate
how the world does not revolve around me. I love seeing the people on the street
in a new locale, especially if I draw or photograph them. I think of it as a little
collision of humanity in a large world, a bump and we are back on to our own
trajectory.
With appreciation comes gratitude. I am grateful that I have the means and the
ability to travel. I know it won’t last forever. I know I will someday be at a point when
I won’t travel. I will be gone from the earth. I don’t mind that. But I would mind
not being aware of that and taking advantage of the time I do have to move about.
With gratitude comes love. Love for those who I notice along my path. The waitress,
the hot dog vendor, the random person from Idaho next to me at the fireworks, the
couple on the boat on a romantic weekend. I have a heart of hope for them.
I wish them well. I encourage them. I love them.
The greater love is for those I know and am with on the journey. My wife, daughters,
friends. I see them in a new light. I see new aspects of them, their growth, their
struggles, their eccentricities and intelligence. I have more to love of them that way.
Travel is good. Get up and go.
“You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting so get on your way!” – Dr. Seuss.
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 9, 2009 | Marcel Proust, Travel |
It’s travel week on the Napkin Dad Daily. Ideas stimulated by my vacation
last week.
The hardest thing to do is to escape oneself. The construction of self takes
many years, decades. And when you travel it isn’t much different than
putting your home on a trailer and moving . You may go to a new location
but everything follows you. How do you leave your world behind and
reconstruct your self, even if just a bit, when you go away from home?
One way is to bring very little. Expect to buy things where you go. Maybe not
expensive stuff, but shampoo, accessories, certain clothing items, etc.
Don’t bring all the things you need to make yourself as you always are.
Go au natural with things, see what you discover about yourself and the
new place you go.
I remember going to Europe in 2003 with my daughters and one of the most
fun and informative things was going into grocery stores to buy food for picnics
and snacks, and other needed stuff. The hair product company, Garnier, was
everywhere and I thought the design and packaging was very interesting.
Lo and behold, a few years later they come to the USA and I see them marketing
to Americans.
Travel and see with new eyes.
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust, French Novelist, 1871-1922
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 8, 2009 | Augustine, Travel |
This is a week long series on travel, a result of my thoughts from my
recent vacation to Cape Cod and Boston over the 4th of July week.
It’s very easy in the current age to ‘see’ the world via photographs, video,
internet and words. It is easy to think you are exposed to it all. And in some
ways you are.
But go to that same place you have seen on TV and you quickly
realize how much more you experience in person. It is the air, the light, the
people, the accents, the birds, the animals, the manners, the food, the sidewalks,
the trees, the smells, the buildings, the events.
They all add up to the experience of knowing another place and reading more of
the book.
Go somewhere and really notice.
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page.” – St. Augustine – church father, 354-430 AD
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