Perspective

Art, music, and the written word have a power to evoke memories, stir the soul, and prick the heart like perhaps nothing else. Among my favorite artists is Andrew Wyeth. I remember as a young adult coming to an awareness of how his paintings and drawings affected me. And I continue to find myself mesmerized by both his technique and his vision.

One thing that compels me about his work is his perspective. So often his paintings show so much more than what is actually on the canvas. It's what is just out of sight that intrigues me. I'm drawn into the moment, into the scene, and ready to turn the corner, glance out the window, or step through the open doorway.

He said about his work, "It's a moment that I'm after, a fleeting moment, but not a frozen moment." I love this idea of a glimmering, passing moment captured on the canvas...a seemingly ordinary scene takes on a transcendent quality. It seems to communicate that nothing is ordinary and every moment, glance, and landscape is worth notice.

Andrew Wyeth (pictured above) died in 2009 at the age of 91. It's interesting to consider the work of his father, N.C. Wyeth, a famous illustrator, and his son, Jamie Wyeth, a realist painter, and to ponder the perspectives of three generations as revealed in their art.

It evokes the question, whether an artist or not, how do you see the world? If unsure, consider the art that captures you...perhaps you have a similar vision? I think my perspective echoes Wyeth's - a sense of expectancy, a recognition of beauty in what seems ordinary, and an appreciation of quiet moments.