Sometimes in life, and intensified during the uncertainty of the pandemic, we need time to contemplate. Luckily for us the artists and many others over the last 18 months there has been more time for contemplation.
Mike has been studying contemplation over many years and especially more recently. He practices a kind of meditation daily, which has matured into a deep understanding of prayer and a relationship with something beautiful and much, much, deeper than most people ever experience and almost all of us block out with our mindless, not mindful, thoughts. All quite different from that clearer purposed, perhaps intuitively inspired, activity of life which inspires us and reportedly comes from focus and quietness within. Contemplation, not thinking but letting thoughts go, clears our minds for spiritual experience, whatever that may be for an individual in life. For Mike this has been ecstatic experiences of love, of being loved and of compassion and connection along with inspired creativity. Not a continuous experience, he will readily tell you, his mindless thoughts and day to day brain junk keep him well away from peace and deep inspiration a lot of the time.
But let’s go with the idea that the richest most meaningful life can be attained with a deeper positive inner personal experience, we call spiritual, (definitely not talking religion here), along with whatever else is in your life. And with those thoughts we come to contemplating the landscape.
Lance and Mike find we need to get out into the landscape not just to investigate it it for artistic goals, but to clear our minds, connect to something that is, if not timeless, changing at an incredibly slow non human pace. It is beyond the over-populated crazy fast changing human world and something to anchor to. The breath- taking beauty of landscape is always a joy to behold especially when its quiet and full of nature without too many humans. It lets the energy of your deeper self through. Here we share pictures of the landscapes we visited this summer. As we write, Lance is in the beautiful landscape of Donegal, Mike in the big skies of rural Bedfordshire. We go together to The Lizard in Cornwall in October to explore more rock geology and collect rock textures, sound and video.
At this point in the investigation into the Sirhowy landscape we’ve collected loads of creative threads, some progressed more than others. A bit of a creative messy mix at this point. But we now are finding that the summer contemplation and break is bringing together our interests in the Earth and spiritual experience nicely. Hopefully the December PEAC exhibition will go ahead and our work accepted to show. But hey, Covid is still going strong and having a big impact and December feels like a long way a way in terms of definitely planning anything. Ah, maybe time to get out in the landscape and clear our heads again, perhaps with snow at the “pagan pool” as before.