Thursday, July 19, 2012

Inside the Museum


Inside the Museum

An azure canvas stretched out above and before me like the peaked and pointed ceiling of a marquee.  Grand enough for the White Queen’s garden, it knitted the edges of the horizon down to the earth in a garter stitch of green trees.  With a watermelon stain on the sleeve of my white linen shirt, I was unsuitably attired for the brick and mortar museum, but this one welcomed me without dress code or ticket, for it recognized me as a regular. My hand lazily draped across the steering wheel of my car, I watched as the famous painting kept changing before my eyes, in thrall to the spell of magic that serves to set this museum far apart from all others. 
 For Whistlejacket cannot gallop.
 Mona Lisa never laughs.
But above me, in swirls of icing white, this masterpiece was at once pirate ships and lions... architectural triumphs of turrets and towers...the thunderous waves of a ill-tempered sea.  One moment it was covered in ivory cream, with only the faintest hints of sky peeking through, but before I could sigh, the white was away, boiling and bubbling in a kettle of blue, tumbling and swirling across the enchanted mural at the bidding of the unseen hand of the Artist.  
I drove along in amazement.
How fortunate we are to have such wondrous works available to us every day of our lives, colours not limited by man’s imagination, textures unearthly, patterns sublime.  They line our pathways, adorn the composition of our days, they encircle our very existence.  How is it we cease to notice? 
 Walk through a forest and count the variations of green.  Run your fingers along the bark of a poplar tree.  Count the stars tossed across a navy blue sky. Watch the lightning slice the darkness.  We, each one of us on planet Earth, spend our days in a museum of grand wonder.  We simply must open our eyes.
It is free.  
It is real. 
It is ours.


Image via Pinterest
Artist unknown

26 comments:

  1. Beautifully put Pamela, these words speak to me in droves.
    I was that child laying on a picnic blanket facing the sky watching wizards, pirates and pussycats emabark on adventures upon those bubbling seas....just yesterday!
    Paul X

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  2. Well said Pamela and very true. As I drove home from the supermarket this morning and saw the hills and valleys of this area, the sun shining on them and just a hint that the heather is beginning to turn purple, I had just such thoughts.

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  3. those of us in urban suburgatory (to steal from some little tv show)
    are really prone to not see the vision. i turn to my own little yard for elation. the trees and busily bathing bird families and the honey bees working 9 to 5 with no lunch! treasures all.
    thanks for the beautiful reminder though. you write so perfectly.
    love,
    tammy j

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  4. As they say, happiness comes in wanting what you have...and what we all have is an incredibly beautiful world around us. This is how children see the world, and so many of us lose sight of this as adults.

    Love this magical painting. I just saw the movie Brave with my children, and there is a scene that reminds me of this painting.

    - Holly

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  5. I need to take the time to visit a museum this summer. It is such a luxurious pastime for little or no money...champagne entertainment for beer money. :-)
    Thanks for reminding me to stop and smell the culture/nature.
    Karen

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  6. Hello Pamela
    You so beautifully describe what you, the artist, saw today.. May your eyes, heart and mind always be in usison. May I caution you to please drive carefully. Those shadows can be dangerous.

    Helen xx

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  7. Oh my goodness, you feature THE most beautiful, pull you in, make you wonder art on this blog!

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  8. Oh Pamela, I soooo love this image. I used it once in a blog post but was never able to find its source (I think if you had known, you would have surely credited ~ I would like to know which person/author *soars* with this kind of vision).

    There is no other museum more sublime than this one!

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  9. ...truly from the heart of an artist..

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  10. For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, thank you Lord. Your words described what I view every day. Being an artist, we have child-like wonder at all of creation.

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  11. Pamela, your writing set my heart soaring, as this is a basic element of my own Path. Thank you for the beautiful words.

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  12. How I'd love to be that woman today! Melting in New England ( we don't do heat as well as you Southerners I fear)... Beautiful painting.

    And I'm so often saying this very thing in very different words to folks... reminds me of when people say, "It was like in a movie" and I think, well, yes, but LIFE is where movie's come from. The extraordinary happens every day, but we fail to see it.

    Glad you stopped by for a visit at RavenWood. Next time bring the iced tea - or should it be mint julips - and a lesson in managing heat and humidty, please?

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  13. I must have that print. Where can I find it?

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  14. Well said! I'm just back from a week in the wilderness and in awe of the untamed world.

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  15. What a nice reminder. Tulsa had amazing constantly changing scenery. With clear beautiful blue skies. And yet, some days, all I pay attention to are the bugs. Love the picture you used.

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  16. A stunning painting Pamela and a gentle reminder to enjoy our surroundings and everything that our home town has to offer ( and, most of it is free !! )
    Sorry for my absence .... I'm still getting the grips with my new computer and am waiting for all of my photos etc to be transfered from my old computer to the new one.
    Hope that you are well and enjoying the summer. It has been wet here for weeks BUT, we are promised some warmer weather by the weekend. I am just hoping that it brightens up for the Olympics. XXXX

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  17. A beautifully worded paen of gratitude, Pamela.

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  18. Oh my goodness, that is how I should have looked at Victoria Falls (if you have time do see my post today)! Could I/should I have ripped off the awful heavy, sticky poncho, stood closer to the edge........and prayed?

    This is amazing - if only someone can tell us the name of the painting and identify the artist. Stunning work.

    Lovely post Pamela - I'm inspired to head out to the NC Museum of Art - it will be cool and quiet and all the beauty is awaiting. With it being hardly a 10 min. drive I'm ashamed I have not visited in some time.

    Have a great weekend.
    Mary

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  19. I feel exactly the same way on pretty much a daily basis Pamela. Living here in the Northwest I'm forever in awe of the beauty surrounding me, and wonder if anyone else is even noticing the amazing grandeur right before their very eyes.
    God sure did give us a glorious place to live...and this post is a beautiful prayer of thankfulness for it...and the painting is perfection as an accompanyment, it's breathtaking...which is what I'm sure the lady in white is thinking of that astonishingly lovely view.
    xo J~

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  20. "Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God, but only he who sees takes off his shoes..." Perhaps Elizabeth B. Browning once stood on such a pinnacle with her shoes off, composing Aurora Leigh.

    I love the painting "Song of the Lark" for the same reason I love this soul-lifting one that you have shared with us, and visit it as often as I can.

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  21. It is free. It is real. It is ours. But sometimes we need your enchanting words to make us see. Missed you! Hope you and your lovely ones are well.

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  22. You have the soul of a poet, and I enjoyed this, my first visit here. Fabulous image of the woman and the green vistas.

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  23. That picture is awesome, its almost undifferentiated between a photograph and painting.

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I love to read your comments! Each and every one! Though I'm always reading your comments, I may not respond in the comment section. If you want to write me directly, you may do so at pamela@pamelaterry.net. Thank you for reading!