Kalidescope dreams, ah, the time spent viewing the magic of changing patterns through the viewing lens of a simply magical instrument of my youth.
The image above was taken with the camera on my phone, the magical instrument of my life today.
The kaleidoscope, however, needs no battery, downloads, or updates, and is always on the ready to delight the eye with its infinite patterns of light. No signals to lose and no monthly payments to be made.
The Dreamer Before Me
One of my earliest memories was of my father, pencil in hand, drawing pictures on whatever paper was available. I recall thinking How fun it would be to draw as my father did, so I began to draw. My dad was a tinkerer, model maker, and builder too. He made teeter-totters, sleds for the winter slopes, kites, which we sent aloft on the days of summertime breezes. I watched dad for hours as he worked on this and that. One year, for my birthday, Mom gave me my very own toolbox with a small handsaw that actually cut wood. After all those years, I have put my skills to work, building displays, signs, and most of whatever comes my way. And here I am, working on another website update, writing and tinkering with this website, doing what it takes to continue my work as an artist and dreamer.
This shadow selfie was taken by the camera of my phone as me and my friend went for a late afternoon walk on a bright and warm summer’s day.
We are all Artists in our own ways.
As a freelancer, in addition to the concepts, layouts, and graphics for brochures and other print projects, I was often called upon to do the writing. I did the best I could and in time I began to realize writing was not much different from the art I did every day. I began to enjoy writing, and through practice, I became a better writer. Some time ago, I volunteered to do the writing of a column for the alumni and friends newsletter of the Art School I had attended. One of my interviews for the column “A Portrait of an Artist” was with Warren Hanson, the Illustrator of the now-classic book “A Cup of Christmas Tea. Near the end of the interview, Warren, relating to our discussion in the interview of what defines an artist, mentioned a plumber who had recently fixed a bathroom faucet in his home. Before leaving, the plumber had noticed the kitchen faucet’s water stream was not as it should be. And before leaving for his next appointment, removed the screen, cleaned it, replaced it, and remarked as he turned the faucet on, “That looks better.” Warren said to me, “You see, plumbers are artists too, in their own way.”
The gifts we are given are our gifts to share
I am blessed with many gifts, we all are. The problem is often times we are slow to acknowledge and accept our gifts. Like books on a shelf, if we never open our books we never know what was there all along, words on pages waiting to be read, gifting us with the knowledge shared by others. Get to know your gifts, use them for others, and see how your life may be changed in ways that you never dreamed possible.