Nature Is The Highest Form of Art

Keep your love of nature, for that is the true way to understand art more and more. - Vincent van Gogh

Don’t fight the way you feel when you start to get outside more. You know, energized yet peaceful, focused, creative…yes, creative!

When I was growing up I always wanted to have some sort of artistic talent, like drawing or singing or playing an instrument. I was, however, completely inept at drawing a straight line or carrying a tune. I have always felt the need for expression, and I loved to write, but that wasn’t nearly as cool or sexy as painting or playing the guitar. It wasn’t until I was a young adult and computers were just starting to become part of everyday life that I realized I was creative and I didn’t need to be artistically talented. I could come up with the idea and the computer software could make it look like a masterpiece!

But, I digress. This is about getting outside, not about my computer geekiness. Once I found a feasible outlet, all I needed was a consistent muse. I found it in nature. Sometimes it is in the photos I take. Sometimes it is the stories I weave in my imagination. Often it is the poetry I write that bubbles up inside me when I am overwhelmed by the sights and experiences I get to see when I am alone, or with someone I love, stripped of all of the distractions of civilization.

Take the time to listen to what nature wants you to feel. Let your guard down and feel it, don’t push it away, and then find a way to express it. It will not be a masterpiece every time, but when you hit it just right, the art you create for yourself from being outdoors will be amazing. Trust me, you are a rock star! (Or a Picasso, or a Mozart, or a Shakespeare, or a …)

Looking Up

The moon was so brilliant and boastful this morning. It said to the sun before she had risen that the world loved him most. The sun countered back that it was she who humans traveled to the edge of the earth to see rise each day, and that proved that she was loved more. The moon explained how much more interesting he was than her, with his size and shape changing each night. But the earth needs me, said the sun, to grow and stay warm and to illuminate. But the oceans need me, said the moon, to rise and to fall and to rest. You wouldn’t shine without my reflection shouted the sun. Your rising and setting wouldn’t be special without your comparison to me, said the moon… And, in the end, they both understood that they garnered their beauty & meaning from each other. They were better together as a pair and that there was enough room in the sky for both of them.

-CM