Debra Darvick
enhance your now in word and imageVISUALS
BEFORE NOW
Cold, Fragile, and Beautiful
Forty-four days until spring. By then these ice spindles will have melted away. Good riddance you say now. But come summer? Perhaps recall this beauty as you reach for a cube to chill your tea…
Milkweed Marvel
Often Martin’s and my walks through the neighborhood turn into photo dates. Some tree or other beauty captures our attention. We each snap what we see and then compare, each time becoming visitors into one another’s worlds. Martin goes macro; I go micro. He misses what’s at his feet. I can’t see over the fences or above the bridge railings to the beautiful vistas. It’s a wonderful part of our relationship, this capturing of our separate visions. We critique one another’s images; I’ve learned a lot from him over the years.
It works the other way as well. Sometimes I’ll mention a shot that I think would be great but I’m not tall enough to capture it. Martin can. Other times I point out a little creature taking in the sun or hiding beneath a branch. Once in a while he can bend down to capture it; other times not so much.
This milkweed pod was eye level as we rounded a corner. Martin was looking elsewhere. I shared my milkweed and he shared the fall garden beyond the wooden fence. I treasure these walks. Being able to see the world through Martin’s eyes is just one of the many things I love about being married to him..
photo courtesy of Debra Darvick
West Fork in the Afternoon
And this is why we return again and again. It’s never the same. The beauty is infinite. There are miracles everywhere one looks.
photo courtesy of Debra Darvick
Family Time
Sculpture A Flor e o Fruto* by Soares Branco, Vila Galé, Palacio Dos Arcos
*The Flower and the Fruit
photo by Debra Darvick
A Red Hot Poker is a Torch Lily is a Kniphofia
Being married to Martin brings me many joys. One of them is seeing the world through his eyes. He snapped this shot of a Torch Lily a couple of weeks ago at Cranbrook. If you are local, go visit. If you’re not, next time you’re in Detroit be sure you visit. I was so taken with the image I wanted to try and paint it.
I started out and then got frustrated because I couldn’t make my painting look like his pohto. And then I remembered. Once again. Duh. Photo realism is not my goal. My goal is to enjoy what I am doing. My goal is to render a beautiful image as I experience it. My goal is to ignore the inner critic. My goal is to play. So I did. I mixed up all sorts of yellows, reds and oranges. For whatever reason, the aqua/blue-green/teal I used as my background, reads blue here.
I’m haven’t finished the painting. But I am having fun. I am learning, one brushstroke at a time. I’m ever so grateful to be inspired by the beauty the Martin captures for us all.
Eden is Everywhere
Last week I tagged along on Martin’s photo club excursion to the Johnson Nature Center, a 40-acre site offering two miles of trails through woods and alongside ponds and streams, creatures large and small. many-feathered and four-footed. Using my three-lensed iPhone means certain shots are beyond possibility. So I go for the up-close, the slightly odd, an image that inspires a story of sorts.
This sinewy branch couldn’t help but bring to mind the serpent and the apple trick it played upon Eve. Eons of discussion focus on this event. Eve was set up. If the Divine was in charge, why sabotage the whole thing right off the bat? And with a snake?
I’m reading Merlyn Stone’s When God was a Woman. Goddess cultures revered the female. Archeology confirms this across the Levant. The snake was aligned with the Goddess’ power; it makes perfect, if disappointing, sense that shifting such a culture to one that is male-prominent, necessitated a negative reinterpretation of the female and her symbol of power. Look for a review of Stone’s book in a future Bookshelf.
For now, the photo and the title that came to me, have taken me in along a different path. Eden is Everywhere. Where did those words come from? I am composing this post on a cool morning in my quiet kitchen. Early-morning walkers pass by, the sound of their conversations ebb and flow with them. Birds are singing praise to their Creator. The sound of an airplane reminds me that Eden is now metaphorical and yet right at my elbow.
Temptation still abounds, too. If not an apple offered by a serpent, then by inviting me to stay under the covers, delay chores, and surrender to the laziness of not giving someone the benefit of the doubt.
I realize I’ve taken close to a thousand words when the photo might’ve done fine just by itself.