Archived Photo Rescued for 2009 Christmas Card

The photo above was taken from our back deck and archived in 2005 along with some of the work below. When I see scenes like this, I usually take several photos and save them, thinking..."Beautiful sunset. Maybe I'll use that for something special one day." Then so often, I forget about it. But not this one.

As some of you know, every year I create and print our own family Christmas cards and usually use some form of art or photo I had the opportunity to work with during the previous year. Usually I start thinking about the upcoming Christmas card around August. This year, however, August and then September zoomed by without any captivating thoughts or ideas for a 2009 card -- except maybe to do something different.

Then one day in October, when fall colors of oranges, yellows and reds surrounded us, the above photo came to mind. I also remembered some of the digital work I had done with it earlier to illustrate a Bible story's reference to four seasons. So, I started considering some possibilities. One of the first steps I had taken in some 2005 digital experiments was to guide and direct the computer, through Photoshop's Layer-Difference routines, to show me variations of changing the oranges, reds and yellows to their opposite color on the color wheel.

For example, considering the three primary colors of Red, Yellow and Blue on a color wheel, I reviewed and styled multiple computer routines to re-paint the Reds in the original photo (top) with its opposite colors (Blue + Yellow) or Green; re-paint the Oranges (Red + Yellow) into shades of its opposite, Blue; Yellows into shades of its opposite (Red + Blue) into Magenta/Purple. Pretty soon I was beginning to see some renditions I might consider for a Christmas card. But, there was still a major color-shift waiting.

That was to invert the dark colors to whites, as shown above. Since the darks are also in the sky and tiny branches, they all became white snow flakes here. See them? It's now winter! And a beginning background for a Christmas card. Inside the card I developed these verses to complete the greeting:

Let us recall beyond this Season,

God’s gift to all - love’s holy reason.

We see him here in all of nature, 

His forest, creatures, and the weather.

We see him glow inside each other,

When there’s just two or three together.

We see him, friends, sisters and brothers,

Whenever there’s wonder, love and cheer,

Like now, when we wish you another...

Merry Christmas

and Happy New Year.

If you did not receive one of our Christmas cards, please accept this one as our e-version to you and your family. If you are not Christian, may this e-card bring you special ecumenical Heart and Spirit greetings from us to you which you may translate into your own personal beliefs. Peace to all.

(c) Copyright 2009 C. Page Highfill, all rights reserved.

Leaf Chorus

 

In May they suspend in silence,

Hushed green wiggles in the wind,

Which hum only muted splatters

Under fresh spring rains,

As glossy wet umbrellas.

In October, they chant color – and tap

Against each other – graduated now

To singing yellows, oranges and reds,

Aiming to parachute soon, searching

For a new place to croon.

But, it is late dreary November,

Blown across cold-hardened streets,

They strum their dry brittle edges,

Along pebble-chorded roads,

And ring now the loudest of all,

Celebrating Act Three – The Fall.

©2009 C. Page Highfill

How to Simplify Judging Paintings and Art

Digital version from the original watercolor,
Farm House in Louisa Virginia

Ever have trouble deciding which painting or print you like and might buy when at an art sale? Ever wonder if there's a simple way to guide your decisions? The short answer is yes there is a very simple guideline. But skip trying and analyse artwork, or trying to figure out what the artist is attempting to say. Skip the trivia as, "This style was popular during the late 90's" etc. etc. Who cares? Plus, that brain-driven procedure asks for trouble, leading you to end up with the wrong painting or print for the wrong reason. It's much better to let your heart and spirit help you decide. Here's what I mean,

Our rational brains can't possibly understand art. They never will, because, like love, art communicates on a different level of awareness than the brain is capable of achieving. Meanwhile deep inside every artist there's a strong yearning for a spirited love connection between his or her artwork and observers. For it is through the artists' own heart and spirit that the artists' best works flow. Artists crave that level of engagement with and for their pieces. I certainly do. The same is true of sculptors, poets, architects, musicians and most of the others immersed in fine arts. You've heard of "soul" music. Consider there's also "soul" art. In fact such is by far the highest quality art. It is art which connects with our human heart and spirit. The same is true in architecture.

Among examples throughout the world, one of the champions of "soul" architecture, or places where heart and spirit connections are famous are found in certain early Celtic constructs called Thin Places -- those places where the veil which normally separates the mundane from the spiritual, becomes very thin. People who stumble upon Thin Paces, now across the globe, have no problem judging the quality of the "art" there, because visitors fall in love with them without trying. They don't have to analyse the architectural style or determine if they should visit again. They are simply drawn back by their own gut feelings about the place. A style is no more than a cosmetic mask. The real attracting personality is behind it. The same is true with paintings and most any fine art example.

In my book, Thin Places and Five Clues in Their Architecture I describe five clues to "soul architecture" connecting with the human heart and spirit. As an architect and also an artist, I recently wondered if those five clues might also apply to good paintings as well. If so, will they help us get a better handle on sensing quality levels in art? Or, do paintings have their own set of clues on how some of them most convincingly grab our hearts and spirits? After mulling over the possibilities, I decided to try three experiments. This article is about the first two of those three. A future blog post will cover experiment 3. Here are 1 and 2.

1 - First, I reviewed critically a good number of my earlier watercolor and acrylic paintings of which I have digital copies, and then I selected some which reveal, at least to me, some heart and spirit "soul" possibilities. These would be paintings which reach out and pull one into the scene, and/or where some of the brush or pen strokes may appear to illustrate feelings and motion more than objects. They may be somewhat musical or poetic in nature. I like such paintings, not for their accuracy, but for their intentional stirring. They have spirit. And soul. Below is a simple sketch example.

I still feel sand between my toes when I look at this one. I never did a "full-fledged" watercolor painting of this scene (like the Louisa Farmhouse above) but I kept this little year 2000 sketch study close by to remind me how much the human spirit prefers free and simple intent. The hardest lesson to learn in watercolor art is when to stop. Usually it's 14 strokes ago.

2 - For my 2nd experiment I pulled the selected digital copies of those experiment 1 paintings up on the screen again, and I studied each one further. Then I asked, "What might I do here, digitally, to bring out the spirited potentials of this painting further? How might this sketch or painting more strongly connect with ones' heart and spirit?"

So, I experimented digitally realizing that this dissolves the penalties of stopping the strokes too late. Cheers for undo actions. Now I can concentrate solely on the art. So, I added a few strokes here and there, then took some back and moved things around a bit. I changed the lighting of some, modified a few brush strokes and revised some edges and colors. I pretended as if I were not yet finished with this painting, and now I am using this new brush... my computer, to finish the long overdue almost-spirited painting.

This digital version above is still not finished, and it is still a sketch. But there are a few enhancements, like partially blended sand color, a darker band in the sky, all to stir a bit more movement within the scene. I also added two dabs of color at the base of the brown house. Those minor additions were driven by my eye scanning over the sketch and nudging the artist in me to do more. No big deal. But after doing that I realized I just echoed architectural clue number 4 of my 5, and which I will review and consider later when I report on experiment 3. I'll leave any further considerations on that until my article then.

Now I have at least two digital versions of many paintings, which may convey different levels of engagement. I learned from that. Yet some artist (and others) may say that computer art is not really art. I totally disagree. If an artist who uses only his pallet knife to spread paint across his canvas (some do) sees someone else using a paint brush, might he exclaim, "Brush art is not really art?" I don't think so. Truth is, the tool is not the art. It doesn't matter what tool is used to help create art. The artist directs the tools and the medium to create art. And Art unfolds in the connections between the artist, the tools and his/her human spirit.

Digital painting built upon my original watercolor
of a tower in Costa Rica

In all of the examples above, original watercolors were painted either live on site or from reference photos taken at the scene. The watercolors are all different by choice from the live view or the reference photos. Then the digital paintings were created from a digital copy of the original watercolors...and the digital paintings are purposely different than the watercolors. When you view paintings, whatever its version, medium or tools were used, forget it all. Step back and look at the painting with a smile. Relax your eyes, breath slowly and allow the painting's spirit to gradually flow into you. After a moment or two you will know if this is a good painting, or just a mediocre painting, or a dud. And, you will feel confident in your conclusions, because deep inside your heart, you'll sense the connection, or a definite lack thereof.

As you practice judging and selecting paintings and prints, remember the medium or its cultured arbitrary "rules of the game" are not important. Only the art and its level of connectivity with the human heart and spirit is important. So, when viewing art, get out of that analyzing mode, reduce your stress level to near zero and let your heart and spirit guide you to long-term decisions. Thanks.

Multi-Tasking and "Brainlessness"

Just had an annual Halloween visit from that distant relative of mine (see earlier post) who claims to be a descendent of the Great Chief of all Nations. He may be. This time he brought with him three painted pumpkins, one for my wife and I, one for my wife's 99 year old mother, and one for us to give away to anyone of our choice. This year we chose one or our 14 grandchildren. All three of the pumpkins have that same "back from the dentist" full shinny grin. The Chief said the expression represents his feelings about anyone who elects not to try multi-tasking.

Surprised, I replied, "Chief, many people multi-task all of the time...don't they? We talk on the phone while doing all kinds of things. We watch TV while glancing at the newspaper or a magazine. Isn't that multi-tasking?"

"Not really," he said. "We hear of Multi-tasking so often. Computers do it well. But people don't. Actually, people "single-task" in multiple segments, but they don't really multi-task. We can't. We're not wired that way."

The Chief went on to explain to me that based on his observations, people actually shift their brain focus attention between two or more tasks much like a teacher or speaker answers questions from the audience. For example, a speaker might listen to a question from Jack in the audience, then quickly create an answer to respond. Next, the speaker might listen to a question from Mary in the audience, and then go through the same procedure. But the speaker (or questioners) can not listen to two questions at the same time, nor build answers at the same time.

The Chief used another example: A person of normal attention capacity can count how many Buffalo are on one hillside, then pause putting the total thus in memory, and then count how many Buffalo are on another hillside. The person can then bring the two totals back into focus and add them together for the grand total. But a person of normal capacity cannot count the Buffalo on two hillsides at the same time without glancing back and forth between them and recording subtotals along the way. The key here is "glancing back and forth."

The Chief told me that humans are wired in such a way to allow some of the brain's total capacity to be brought forward into an active brain chamber. Whatever that brought-forward percentage might be, it can then focus on whatever the person wishes, but it cannot focus on two or more activities at the same time without shifting its focus between one and the other. It can be aware of other activities, but it cannot specifically focus on more than one at a time. Experiment with the Buffalo example, or questions from the audience, yourself. I think you will find (like the Chief and now me) that while we can not technically multi-task, we can "shift-task."

Now, there is a huge danger in thinking that "shift-tasking" is the same as "multi-tasking." It's not. Shifting brain attention between two or more activities means that each of the activities is alternately functioning in "brainless states."

What this means to us is scary. When you see someone driving while talking on the cell, notice how they drive....much like one who is inebriated. The vehicle slows down and the driver's attention (shifting) appears to be focused primarily on just keeping the car in the road, even if it continues in the fast lane. Brainlessness. Of course if texting is also going on, the shifting attention and resulting driving is much worse. What the drivers are doing is "brain-shifting" using the same brain-shifting technique as described above.

Importantly and the scary part is that the activity from which the brain has just shifted, then has very little or no brain direction. That "shift-tasking" on two or more activities could be a very dangerous way to illustrate brainlessness. Please don't try it on the road. Instead, please pass this along to your loved ones and ask then not to try and prove what brainlessness looks like, especially when driving.

Now there is also good news in the singularity of the brain's specific focus abilities. During those times when things aren't going particularly well, when you may be feeling gloomy, or down, or depressed, your heart, mind and spirit may appear to be right there in the pits with you. Your brain may be supporting your negative thoughts and actually "awful-lizing" on and on, wallowing there in the doldrums with you. Most of us have been there. The good news is the brain cannot focus on gloom at the same time as it focuses on gratitude. It's the same rationale as counting the two Buffalo herds. You can only count one herd at a time. Try it. Go brainless with the negative stuff. Shift your brain to scanning a list in your mind of all you are grateful for. Try it. Keep shifting the brain from the negative tasking to the grateful tasking - over and over as necessary, until you come to your senses -- like you always do.

I am reminded of words from the Great Blog, Phillippians 4:8 (KJV) which says, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

Check that grin on the pumpkins again. I think the Chief and the Great Blog are both right. Best to all. ~ Page

When Creatures Engage

It was one of those rare sunrise moments, when those white winged wizards, those oceanfront Sea Gulls, dared outside of their protective limits, taking risks to check out an offering from my oldest daughter and yawning grandkids. It must have been more than hunger that powered the Gulls' recklessness.

Maybe they saw an opportune adventure to momentarily engage with one of their predators, a human, who appeared to be charitable. Some people claim to see a spark of God's spirit in creatures during moments like this. Like witnessing one of God's ideas of grace in disguise. All of life is poetry. We are some of the metaphors - searching for our own implicit analogies - as here, along the western edge of the massive Atlantic tablecloth, stretched flat and wide. Under the light. Good morning.

Thin Places...In The Future?

Places which capture the heart and spirit of visitors and occupants provide huge benefits and advantages for accomplishing facility goals. In Celtic history such highly engaging places were often called "Thin Places" meaning that the veil separating the mundane from the heart and spiritual realm at these places -- was seemingly very thin.

Today, thousands of such places throughout the world attract and astound people year after year. A small low budget, yet absolutely breathtaking chapel in the USA, was built in 1980 and has continued each year since to earn more funds from its modest tourists' fees than its original cost. Wouldn't you like to know how these places can do that? Wouldn't you like to consider Five Clues to their Thin Place power... for your places? That's what this book is about.

Now after thousands of years of Thin Places consistently linking with visitors' hearts and spirit, and confirmations of resulting place benefits through published attendance records and visitor responses, why then do we NOT program, design and build ALL of our people occupied facilities based on such human attraction responses? The excuse cannot be cost, for consider again the economic return on the small low budget chapel. Truthfully there is no excuse.

When place leaders, building committees, owners, trusees, CEOs, ministers and members accept mundane under-performing place decisions (often at higher costs), potential heart and spirit connections by customers, prospects and visitors they seek to serve, instead of being drawn to their places may instead be deflected and lost. Look around. Many places continue to fail for that very reason, while others like the small chapel and thousands of similar examples continue to excel providing huge goal benefits for their occupants, place owners, leaders and sponsors.

When then, will schools, colleges, universities, seminaries and professional associations seriously begin to teach and support this higher level of place engagement -- as echoed by C.G. Jung and demonstrated over the years by discerning place professionals? There are many successful examples of heart and spirit creations already bristling in art, music, literature, poetry and other fields. Think about that.

Now, it would appear during these critical times that those in the place industry and those being served by the place industry (churches, businesses, institutions and others) would seize this vital opportunity and seriously begin reversing downward trends by following that lead. This blog is an invitation to connect around that dream, inspire ways and people to help -- and begin. I invite you to join in.

Book Signing 10-3-09

The book signing at Hampden-Sydney College on 10-3-09 was a most exhilarating and refreshing opportunity to meet many new friends and Thin Place patrons. Hampden-Sydney parents, students and staff continue to be some of the most interesting and friendly people on the planet. Since my retirement this year, I am reminded of how grateful I remain for the energizing opportunities I shared with others to provide architectural services for the College for nearly twenty years -- all of us working together to further her noble mission. This parents' weekend was also somewhat of a homecoming for me.

Two of the parents I met (and sold a book to) are husband and wife ministers. Both have keen interests in the spirituality of Thin Places and quickly acknowledged the benefits and advantages such could play in achieving ministry goals. Later an architect parent dropped by and purchased a book. We discussed the low budget small chapel example in the book noting that it was built in the USA in 1980 and each year since it has earned more funds from its modest tourists fees than its original cost. It is also an absolutely beautiful, inspiring and spirited Thin Place with four AIA design awards.

After studying highly engaging places for over ten years, seeking answers on how places like this all across the globe can draw such powerful responses from visitors, my book, Thin Places and Five Clues in Their Architecture, illustrates what I found. Now, my next questions, as further nudged by Thin Place patrons and those at the book signing, are similar to that noted in my blog header text above: Why aren't all new places/ buildings designed this way? Why isn't connection with the human heart and spirit made a serious first priority goal of all facilities/places in programming and design -- just as it is in music, art and literature? For that connection benefit does not necessarily cost more. Often it costs less. Consider again the economics of the small chapel.

Back at home the next day, reviewing the book signing experiences and those unanswered questions with friends, one of them asked, "While churches today face serious challenges with many continuing to lose connections with people and communities, might they seriously look at the level of heart and spirit connections their places and programs actually provide their members and visitors? Are young ministers in seminaries being taught the power of Thin Places? And while some churches are reportedly close to losing their way....might they see these Thin Place examples and the drawing power evidenced over the years as an exciting possibility to help turn things around?" Good questions, I noted. Let's see what some of them think. What do you think?

In the meantime, I definitely recommend book signings for authors and readers. They offer not only the opportunity to buy/sell and sign books, but more importantly, they offer the opportunity to meet and talk with lots of people about diverse interests and views -- including place engagement for the human heart and spirit. Yes, I surely feel the pull.

When Heart and Spirit Sing

Sunrise Breeze Scouts

Heart and spirit often sing together at sunrise...where faint breezes become ushers just before the day's curtain begins to open. What a magnificent place -- a dawning thin place. I am reminded of a poem from my book, Thin Places and Five Clues. The poem was originally written at Nags Head Beach in North Carolina during a typical spirited engagement at sunrise. I still edit it from time to time to reflect new memories. Imagine the pre-dawn quiet. Listen to the hush giving way to faint sounds of awakening creatures. They grow louder as overhead flights in formation pass through the early morning air...that invisible fresh message-laden breeze.

Like a Mother's love
floating on unseen breath,
Pelicans escort divinity here
among morning's sunrise
across fauna's Disney World.

Invisible to us, breezes lift,
push, bend and more, as
it paints on borrowed canvasses,
thriving on ordinary moments,

to transform -- such into magic,
walking into whisking waltzes,
while amusing itself in solitaire,
spinning new patterns in the sand.

For without wind, waves would
sleep humdrum, flat with the kites.
Balloons would sit out the dance,
grayed under clouds parked broken.

But instead, Sea Oats celebrate
standing ovations from wind's sway,
while sails beyond, puff deep,
flaunting breeze's catch of the day.

Still, phantom wind ponders lonely.
Its palettes and engines linger,
hovering in its studios of whirl,
poised in yet another disguise, to
capture again our winged souls.

ADBI a Fore-Runner of ADD?

May this be a light "thin moment" for you. Many of my friends tell me they have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) but I'm still not convinced that most of them do because of the extreme focused attention I have seen them enjoy. I wonder instead if they might have ADBI -- a malady explained to me by a distant relative who claims he has studied a lot of Native American history. He likes to be known as Chief Smoke-Inhaler, but his friends know better and simply call him CSI.

He tells me he is from a long line of scouts. I doubt that, but I have seen him move a plywood tepee around the countryside from time to time to observe villages, cities and people of interest who he thinks might help him shape his modern day conclusions and predictions. As he visualizes new trends, usually unknown to us, he smoke-signals (ss-mails) them to me for posting on the networks. I have been unable to verify the accuracy of his opinions, but so many of them have come true.

In a recent series of puffs he indicated that he has observed a particular change in behaviors in many people over the last 5 - 10 years. He calls it ADBI, Attention Destroyed By Interruptions. He said this ailment did not come about until cell phones, texting, e-mail, and social networking became so addictive. He believes ADBI is possibly a first stage virus which can lead to ADD, and if not caught and corrected early, it can also cause improper tepee setup, loss of hunting skills, difficulty in distinguishing squaws and eventually loss of the ability to focus on priorities and remember why they are in such a strange order.

Is he right? Take this simple test. Consider how long (in minutes) you might have experienced recent uninterrupted time periods...to focus on your and your employer's priorities? If you're your own employer, it's even more critical. So how long are your uninterrupted segments of time? 5 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute? Could he be right? Does this help explain why some of the new TV shows appear to be written in such a way that they can be actually watched and completely understood while texting the entire time?

I know I don't have ADBI because... then Chevrolet minus Monday with yellow and I was leaf yesterday. See?

A Thin Place -- Working

A Thin Place for them. A Thin Moment for us.

Back in 2002 at Nags Head, NC when I snapped this photo of 4 of our now 14 grandchildren, all of the adults in the room knew we were witnessing a very special scene. But our view produced a different response than the grandchildren’s. They were in the midst of a Thin Place experience, even as brief as it was – they were mesmerized by God’s pure beauty expressed so engagingly through some of his intrinsic symbols. As described in my book, light, color and space are three of the most powerful intrinsic (native, natural) symbols in nature’s toolbox. Humans are hard-wired to connect almost magnetically with intrinsic symbols, regardless of age, education or culture. That’s why their use is one of the preferred and timeless ingredients to include in our human-made environments. A skilled use of intrinsic symbols is a vital part of building people engagement. And people engagement is a vital part of a truly successful facility. Yet, people engagement – is what so many facilities lack.

Back to the photo. At the same time our youngsters were magically enthralled in this early morning connective pause, we adults were witnessing the process as a minor miracle. None of us has ever been able to secure such sustained devoted attention from even one child – much less four of them, and all at different ages. Part of the miracle was that all of them were completely relaxed and at peace with the connection. Look at them. That’s a good example of the power of a Thin Place.

How you might feel now looking at this scene may be very similar to how we adults felt then. As I acknowledged the spiritual-like captivation of the four, I sensed imaginary invisible strings held by each of their human spirits and extending to the Cosmic Holy Spirit parked within the sun’s brilliance. It was like watching a butterfly’s first appearance through an opening in its cocoon. To us observers, this perhaps was a Thin Moment for us, seeing this spirited connection of others as an example of a profound truth. Do you see the primary difference here between a Thin Place experience by the grandchildren and a probable Thin Moment experience by the rest of us watching that connection? There’s lots of wiggle room between those two terms and no specific yes-no answers. But to me, a Thin Place experience is like feeling the heat of several lightning strikes nearby, as the vibrations of its power shake my muted gratitude – finally awake. A Thin Moment may be more like catching an unexpected glimpse of the lightning as it paints a darting bolt in the sky miles away…then hearing the thunder mumble a reminder in the distance.

Had any similar experiences?

WELCOME

Welcome to all who are among this first post in our Thin Places and Thin Moments Blog, which is produced and encouraged by a few friends I met in the Richmond Christians Who Write (RCWW) writers group in Richmond, Virginia. Thanks to Rev Tom Lacy, Mary Moss and her library of friends. Thanks too, to all of those other fans, family and friends out there who shared their experiences of “Thin” times with me …when the veil between this mundane world and the spiritual world momentarily became thin to them as it has for many others throughout history. For it is during those times – that we surely sense again the Holy Cosmic Spirit whispering compelling adorations to us through our humbled human spirit. They are among the times when that spirit connection becomes genuine and authentic.

Our goal through this blog is to nurture those times, those moments and those places which foster that spiritual bond – and to uncover the fabric, structure and composition of those nurturing times – so that we might help in assembling other and new Thin Places and Moments for others through which they can use, celebrate, learn, work and worship in harmony. We invite you to join us.

This fostering search is a primary interest of mine and might be described as a process to discover purposeful recipes which cultivate spiritual awareness and spiritual bonding that appear to be built into certain places, in both man-made and natural settings. Not too long ago, five key ingredients in Thin Place recipes jumped out at me loud and clear one day after a ten year pursuit to determine how they are different from ordinary places or might we say “thick places.” Those five ingredients are described in detail in my book, Thin Places and Five Clues in Their Architecture.

Many of those who read my book later mentioned or e-mailed me that reading about some of my Thin Place experiences made them remember times in their lives when they happened upon a similar Thin Place – or a Thin Moment, when they lost their sense of time, or they had the strange feeling that they had been at this place before…but really hadn’t – or it appeared to them that the astonishing beauty at a particular place in front of them seemed to be presenting them with a message. We here would like to hear about your Thin Place or Thin Moment experiences. Do you now recall similarities of place, or word, or music, or silence, or other influences at those times or places? What happened?

Thanks,
~ Page

C. Page Highfill, AIA Emeritus
Architect (ret), author, artist, speaker