this cup is half full, fer cryin' out loud

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Time passing, spaces filled

It's been almost 2 weeks. Golly.

I think that this is the first post on the new WanderingStu blog that features that classic tone of melancholy, the one which I think I promised to avoid. I wonder if, had I not opened with that previous sentence, you would have noticed.

I just threw out over 20 business cards that I had collected over the past 2 1/2 years, from teachers, healers, musicians, artists, bodyworkers, peace-workers, photographers, tour guides- all the kinds of folk who strive to link person to person, person to soul, person to history, soul to eternity, nation to nation, body to mind, mind to soul, body to soul, soul to soul. I guess those are the only kinds of people from whom I collect a business card in the first place.

But i never called any of them. Never had a need to. Or should I say, an occasion to. An occasion to re-engage that tiny spark of a smile, that random chat on the New York subway, that nice connection made over a Shabbat table... The connections fade. The energy dissipates. At least one of the people in the stack has already passed away.

Life- for me, that is- seems to be a series of fabulous sparks that then become business cards in a pile that sit ignored, collecting dust. The fire does not get lit.

On the other hand, half an hour ago I mounted one of my watercolors onto cardboard. I've been meaning for months to begin mounting all of my little paintings, and finally began the process. I reckon that's a good thing, on two accounts (the painting and the mounting). This one is called Jonah. It was painted with water from the Red Sea, even though Jonah was chucked into the Mediterranean.

The photo was taken with the Photo Booth software for the MacBook's built-in camera, so the image is reversed. When I painted this, I held the paper at a 90-degree angle to how i am now displaying it. I think it works better this way.

I mounted it on a bit of cardboard cut out from a Jaffa orange box. I just now realized that Jonah boarded the ship at the port of Jaffa, and then was thrown overboard to quell the storm.

That's pretty nice.

1 comment:

eitanhalevy said...

Shim,
I don't know how to explain why, but I absolutely love that water color. Something about the depth of the background with the little stick-man perhaps.

I have a similar relationship with business cards. I actually have little zip-lock bags full of old cards which I will never use, but can't bring myself to throw away.

In case I'm too spaced out/busy/forgetful to make sure you hear otherwise, I'm getting married! And the wedding is going to be June 5 (kabbalat panim 6:30, chuppah 7:30) at Ramat Rachel. I hope to see you there.
---
B'ahavah,
-Eitan