The Black and Whites

     

Clarity.

I think that is my word for Now. Because I don’t want fuzz and haze and blur. I want clarity. I want all the blur to be made sharp. And all the grays to be polarized. And all that’s form and shape and surface to be tangible, not abstract.

Clarity.

So all the little images I quietly make these days are finding themselves pulled–not so gently nudged–towards contrast. They are pushed towards their essence, brought down to the distinct and clear focus of sharp black and white.

And they help me see better. I’m not distracted by color and shade. I’m given the full scope of the image, even though it’s stripped of so many elements. I don’t miss them. When I pull these elements away, I can see more clearly.

   

Clarity.

This is what I do to tell the world that it’s not all clear for me right now. And it doesn’t all make sense and I’m not sure what to do with it and I don’t have all the answers so please don’t ask and I’d rather you help me than me help you because there’s nothing there but gray and questions.

This is what I do… My soul needs it, so my hands find it in whatever my eyes see.

It may not be pretty. And it may not be colorful. And it may not be vibrant. But it is clear. It is clear and you can see it and I can see it and it is undeniably and inarguably there.

Clarity.

   

Dear Songwriting…

Dear Songwriting,

It’s not you. It’s me.

Actually, I’m not sure if it’s me. It’s the colors and shapes and light and shadows.

Can’t you see them? And can’t you see that they have me all confused?

Or maybe I’m not confused. Maybe I just need to clear my mind, free the words, and let them come back to me wrapped in tones and textures. Maybe if my eyes start working, the words will be more distinct and more true and less noisy and less wordy. Maybe I just need a blank space to think in. And maybe I am coloring in that space with things I see everyday.

Maybe.

It’s all running together, and melodies pop out of the energy of the images. I can hear them. And it’s all coming from the same place and it all feels the same in my head–the same as when I was younger and I would draw and paint and draw some more. And my mind was filled with pictures and replications of the world and interpretations of life.

Remember where you came from? That’s where you came from. And I’m convinced that in all this gestation you will grow and you will sing stronger than before.

And you are me and this is me and it’s all me. It’s still me. It’s always been me.

And I still love you,

mandy

HT: Messy Mandy, who often holds a mirror to my mind.

What’s next? Four-A-Days

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They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I’m hoping to pack each day next week with at least 4,000 “words.”

I can’t say some of the pictures won’t have words in them. Just that they will all be pictures.

Next week.

…Get ready.

Now, on to more important matters: What are you up to on this post-Mother’s-Day weekend? Any fun plans??

eye-candy

so i stumbled onto this blog a few days ago. and got lost in the pictures – Sarah has a way of taking the everyday average sights of life and turning them into something inspiring!

www.sarahortega.com

have you recently run across any note-worthy blogs? any newbies out there we need to know about? any lurkers out there who wanna come out of hiding!?