Back to Reality

I've been at the beach since last Saturday afternoon and have taken a hiatus from life. It has been absolutely amazing, I can't think of anything better I could have done for myself this week. I feel rested and recuperated from the semester. Throughout this past week, with a lot of time on my hands and little on my mind, I have found myself appreciating the world and its natural beauty. Okay, okay, so I'm not trying to be all sappy or deep, but- I realized this week how much I miss out on when I am focusing so much on everything else. I have taken special care to pay attention to the little things, such as natural textures and patterns; the woodgrain on a fence, the bark on a tree, the texture of the millions of broken shells in the sand, the veins in leaves of plants, its all so beautiful. I think that my recent piece in which I took photographs of found peeling paint and embroidered over them drew my attention to the small, beautiful things that go unnoticed. I'm curious to see where this new found interest in discreet beauty takes me.

When I took this photo, I was just snapping random shots of the fence around our pool. When I look at this photo I see a face, with quite the personality.

The cracking wood on the walkway- I found this texture appealing.

Just a pile of stuff I encountered on a walk along the beach, the "stuff" became much more interesting up close.