Besides the cheerful distractions of the holidays, I had found an effective way to procrastinate on the next assignment, the second assignment on page 19th, looking at something that doesn't change. Corita recommends "something that doesn't change--a soda bottle is fine." Well, there are cider and wine bottles aplenty in my kitchen, but was I was stubbornly wanting to do this exercise with a specific object I had in mind but that wasn't easily at hand. In fit of "organizing" I had put away several of the smaller but not necessary objects floating around the kitchen, including one little cream colored pitcher I had found at a yard sale a few years ago, well at least five years ago. It has a tiny chip on one side but has a wonderful shape and I was hung up on using it for this activity. Finally finding some resolve in myself this morning, I dragged the stepstool around the kitchen and dug into high reaches of cabinets until this little treasure revealed itself again.
Why does fifteen minutes sound like such a long time? Fifteen minutes of concentration in a day of 24 hours. So, I allowed myself some classical music on the radio and a cup of tea, then set the timer. And as in the first exercise, once I let my eyes take over and look slowly in, across, and all over the small pitcher, the time slid by. One of the reasons I had specifically wanted this little object is because of the layering of coloring that has taken place in the glaze of this item--it might originally have begun its life as a solid cream color, but there is really a lot happening in terms of color and texture in this little gem. Tiny clear crackles but also changes of color in the material, either from wear, exposure to water or sun, however it has happened I wanted to take the time to really look at the multiple layers of color in this object.
Will you join me this week in choosing an object to view for 15 minutes a day and share your observations?
Cheerfully yours, The Bookcharmer
