Autumn Leaves

I always thought that one of the best things that Art could do was to turn sadness into beauty. Alchemy. That kept me going for a long time, but as I start to get old I realize that everything beautiful eventually turns into sadness.

I sort of knew this all along, of course. Mark Twain told me so. But it's one thing to have someone (even a very wise man) tell you something, and another thing to experience it. Then I remembered the Navajo Beautyway chant:

In beauty may I walk

All day long may I walk

Through the returning seasons may I walk

...and I remembered that beauty is much larger, more powerful than anything in the human world.

With beauty before me may I walk

With beauty behind me may I walk

With beauty above me may I walk

With beauty all around me may I walk

In old age, wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk

In old age, wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk

It is finished in beauty

It is finished in beauty

Robert Bateman Talks Art at 2013 SKB Workshop

Thank you to Gayle Crites for telling me about this Robert Bateman video interview last night.

It was recorded at the Susan K Black Foundation last month.

"I think the world would be a better place if everybody was a plein air painter. Not so much to do with art, but with paying attention to a place." The new Robert Bateman Centre is now open in Victoria, BC Canada.