Harmony

The theme for this month's art exchange was "principles of design." One of my choices was 'harmony' but I was unsure what direction to take with it.

Last week I awoke very early to a thick fog outside, the kind where you can't see across the road. Compelled to get up and ride my bicycle in it, I waited until nearly daylight and took a loop on the bike trail through the woods and around a small lake with fog and mist rolling around me as I rode alone.

It was a bit creepy and I kept expecting Vincent Price to step out in front of me at any moment wearing a black cape and doing that insane laugh.

The bike trail goes past a small cemetery where I have explored many times before, and I recalled the plots of 3 children that lay side by side in the older part of the grounds. At some point on that bike ride, an idea took form as I visualized a photograph of 3 Victorian Era children from my collection. Taking liberty with the artistic principle, I focused more on the general meaning of the word: Harmony in the way they each seemed to have strong individual characteristics , yet all shared common features and contributed to a family legacy. Three notes of a chord. A trio of stories left unfinished.

You never know where inspiration will come from. My best advice is to be open to it, be free and playful with the possibilities, and if you get a chance to ride your bike through thick fog on an early morning in June, just do it.