How Beauty is Expressed

This afternoon I was going about my business when I was suddenly struck with the "beauty" of the day. 

It was around 2:00 in the afternoon.  The sky was clear blue and the sun was bright. There were many puffy clouds building from the late August's humidity and they were creating the most gorgeous (and paintable) formations.

Playing in the background was Michael Dulin's "Timeless" album, a swirling, delicate compilation on piano. 

It seemed to narrate my drive and what I was observing as one of the most beautiful afternoons.

All of my senses were exploding at once.

My experience was so lovely! 

I wanted to express it in a painting. 

That led me to think about all the ways beauty is expressed in art. 

Piano notes expressed delicately the glow behind the magnificent building clouds.  I continued to drive toward my destination as trees swayed softly.  Cars passed on by - on their way.

I wonder if anyone else was seeing what I was experiencing? Was it possible that anyone else was appreciating this glorious day?

"One of the greatest things in the world is to train ourselves to see beauty in the commonplace; discover beauty where others have not found it." Charles Hawthorne.

"How many people pass this place (a house and simple surroundings close to the street) every day and never see it! Once it is seen, painted, and put into a frame everyone will come to look at it.  It's the artist's business, the painter's job, to point out to the public the beauties of nature." Charles Hawthorne "Hawthorne On Painting"    

From here, I thought about how human nature searches continually for the beautiful.  If it is not in a painting, it is in the beauty of a garden.  I was privileged to have painted in one of the most beautiful gardens this past July in Cashiers NC in the Joy Garden Tour.  The owner of her garden was so nervous as several hundred strangers were going to tour her personal space of which she worked to perfect for the past 24 months.  The realization that she was an artist conveying beauty through her garden hit me, just as Michael Dulin portrayed beauty through his piano as it played so eloquently. 

There is more that I wish to share with this epiphany I had while driving. . . . but that will be for another day.  Until then, keep looking up and enjoy the clouds.