February is still winter in Nova Scotia, but we are a month closer to spring and we get a few more minutes of daylight each day. Its usually cold enough for snow to remain as snow, not slush, which means that skiing is good. For much of North America skiing has become a sport for the wealthy. The cost of the lift tickets, hotel, food and transporation to resort style ski hills require a high end lifestyle.
While the hills of Nova Scotia cannot compare to the mountain runs of British Columbia, they suit me fine, allowing me to cruise the fall line at full speed without having to over-exert my legs. The local ski hill is a 40 minute drive. By buying a low cost season’s pass, I can enjoy 2 or 3 hours of fun and exhilaration for maybe $30/day on average (including gas). Those hours of fresh air and solitude (social distancing on the runs and chairlift due to COVID) are really good for creative ideas. I return home with energy and motivation. The art studio beckons. Yes winter has its benefits!
“Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.” – Harvey Mackay
Time Flies
These days I am preoccupied with time. I feel panicked that the days are passing quickly and I am aging. Aging feels like my own private battle.
My perspective on aging changed when I realized that aging applies to everyone. It is the human condition. We change slowly and subtly each day.
Changes become apparent when we meet someone we haven’t seen for a few years. Children transform into young adults. Older friends develop a receding hairline, more wrinkles, or a different body shape.
It’s often a surprise to see photos of celebrities. We remember them when they were famous. We look different when to see them now.
Now and Then
Time Equality
Time marches on for everyone simultaneously. No one gets more time in a day. We are all equal in this regard.
Although I sometimes envy wealthy and powerful people, I realize they still only have 24 hours in a day just like me. They too are aging due to the same human physiology.
Consider Vladimir Putin, or King Charles, or Donald Trump. They have immense power and influence in the world around them. Yet they have the same amount of time as everyone else. During their day they still need to sleep, wash, eat and relax. Their power has little benefit in these daily routines.
They are also bound by the rules that govern health and aging. Their health will suffer if they are physically inactive, eat and drink too much, or feel stressed, They too get old. They can’t stop the passage of time.
“The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.” – C.S. Lewis
Capturing Time
Can time be stopped and saved? We try to capture time with a portrait or photograph. A portrait celebrates a person during one phase of life. Photographs directly capture a moment in time. In those images, time is frozen.
Portrait of a Boy Who is Now a Young Man
Unlike Oscar Wilde’s Portrait of Dorian Gray, where the painting ages while the person stays young, the truth is the opposite. Time moves on and so does the person. The portrait soon becomes a memory of the past.
We can add a few hours to the day on occasion- when we set clocks back at the end of Daylight Saving time, or when we travel West to another time zone. It doesn’t stop the biological clock however.
Perhaps in some future society we will be able to travel close to the speed of light. For a relativistic traveller time slows. and aging also would slow down. Unfortunately, when the traveller returns home he/ she may be young but everyone else will have aged. Would that be any more satisfying?
Carpe Diem
Let’s give up trying to fool time. Let’s celebrate the time we have. Our time may be limited, but that makes each day more precious and beautiful. Savour each of them as they pass.
“This is a wonderful day. I have never seen this one before.” – Maya Angelou
“Enjoy life. There’s plenty of time to be dead.” – Hans Christian Anderson
Our figure drawing studio has started after a summer layoff. For 3 hours every Tuesday artists gather to draw an undraped model. The sessions combine my love of drawing and my appreciation of the human body.
Having the opportunity to draw real people is essential for developing a wide artistic repertoire. We draw the human figure in various poses and practise portraiture. Our models are people of all ages, sizes, shapes, and gender (including ‘they’).
Ideal Versus Real
How we view our physical bodies is strongly affected by social media and popular culture. Their focus is on youth, athleticism, and glamour. We feel pressure to emulate fashion models, movie-stars and athletes. We are exhorted to be lean, lithe and muscular. Flawless skin, high cheekbones, wavy hair, and big blue eyes are envied.
Faces and figures in magazines, on social media, and television are Photoshopped idealizations. They are unworldly in comparison to the majority of real people. Reality lies with ordinary faces and bodies which seem plain and imperfect by comparison.
Our models are real people. They offer a wide variety of bodies and faces to observe, explore and draw. Its one thing to look at our nakedness in privacy. Courage and confidence are required for models to pose in all their magnificence while artists gaze intently and intensely.
Imperfection is Perfection
I am not saying this well. I am not judging the models as being imperfect. While some models are young, many are wrinkled and gray. They are perfect for who they are. My artistic mission is to to portray their essence in an expressive and realistic manner. If I do this well, I will find beauty.
Finding beauty
I appreciate that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. I sometimes find myself judging the model as attractive (from an artistic perspective) or not so desirable. When I focus on drawing what I see, I discover there is beauty to be revealed. It could be in the shapes, the repose, the action or the mood. Its a wonderful transformation and one of the reasons life drawing is so rewarding.
Accepting Myself
I am reassured by our models that bodies at all ages, in all shapes and in all enthnicities are beautiful. Our variations enhance our personality and individuality. It would be a shame if we stopped liking our bodies after middle age.
Drawing real people has helped me in this lifelong quest to love my own face and body. Can I accept my own physical peculiarities- such as my slanted eyes, baldness, and knobby knees? I don’t need to be perfect. I too am beautiful in my own unique way.
Wanting More
Because drawing is fun and endlessly rewarding, I want more. I want to improve and to experiment. In my next post I will examine mark making and how a few lines and strokes can create a beautiful figure.
Life changes quickly. My Summer indolence was transforming into Autumn productivity when two developments changed everything.
An itchy throat became a bad cold. I had body aches, congestion and sleepless nights. I lost my appetite and could not concentrate. I cancelled an artist retreat to the Bay of Fundy. I just wanted to hibernate until I was healthy again.
attrinuted to Vincent Van Gogh “The saddness will last forever”(https://i.redd.it/jcivoov7zf781.jpg)
Hurricane Fiona struck the Maritimes September 24. Falling trees in our neighbourhood knocked out electricity for five days. A wood stove provided heat. We ate the contents of our refrigerator before things rotted. A radio provided news and batteries provided light.
The Sublime Force of Nature Joseph Mallord William Turner Snow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth, 1842 (https://media.tate.org.uk/art/images/research/1588_9.jpg)
The two events created similar effects on my psyche. My cold was a personal disruption. The illness squashed my spirits and enthusiam. I lost my gumption to tackle daily activities. I berated myself for not taking precautions. I felt despair and hopelessness. I gave up.
Although all of the Maritimes was affected by Hurricane Fiona, I felt personally victimized, powerless, and trapped. The weather’s change from benign calm to violent unpredictability over a few days was hard to comprehend. Those ten days of calamity were very difficult to accept.
Now my life is back to normal, which is wonderful.
How do I evaluate my calamity? My setbacks are small compared to what other people are facing. There are so many who are dealing with serious irrecoverable health issues. Floridians living in the path of Hurricane Ian face months or years of loss, rebuilding and financial stress. Ukrainians face terrible life and death incidents that seem to have no end. By comparison my calamities seem trivial and somewhat embarrassing to admit.
We often only treasure something after it is lost. I had been taking my health and safety for granted. It was a shock when they were lost. The days of sickness make me thankful for my days of health.
I appreciate having an ordinary Autumn day. I felt an amazing elation when the lights in the house flickered on again. I won’t take for granted the trappings of 21st century life: abundant food, energy, communications, information, travel and comfort. Life is good, very good.
“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” Henry David Thoreau (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/lost-quotes)
I have a hard time enjoying September. Although the weather is still pleasant, a notable change happens after Labour Day. Holidays are over, school and university classes begin. Thoughts turn to work, the harvest, and preparation for winter.
I am sad about the end of summer, and my plans for autumn are blank. In years past I I felt a desire to create paintings suitable for gallery showings or to do home improvement projects. Today I don’t feel inspired by these activities.
Autumn is very much the metaphor for aging. I feel the aging process more strongly than ever. A new season of life is approaching. Are the good times of summer coming to an end?
Change of Season
Like each autumn day becoming slightly cooler and darker, the vitality of mid-life is waning. I take more naps, I need a magnifier to read, and I feel twinges in my hip. What will the autumn of my life bring? Should I accept this slow deterioration?
Never Say Die
An urgent voice is saying “Grab the ring while you can”. Don’t settle for a slow slumbering autumn. It’s telling me to act on my bucket list. Try a few new things! Have an adventure! Travel to Japan, meditate quietly, create a new recipe or snorkel in the Caribbean.
??????????
Dreaming of new adventures is helping me accept September. I want to get emotional about something! Let new experiences pull me onward.
