Redtree Times

 Day’s First Color– At Little Gems, West End Gallery

This first glance of a soul which does not yet know itself is like dawn in the heavens; it is the awakening of something radiant and unknown.

–Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

I’m a morning person, an early riser, which means I know the dawn a bit. First rays of sunlight through the trees. Long shadows. Black and deep grays transforming into greens and browns.

First color of the day comes and with it the possibility of the new and the unknown. Every dawn offers the chance for the revelation of something fresh and exciting, something unseen and not thought of before that first sunlight crept through the trees.

Maybe something that changes everything.

Of course, most days don’t fulfill that promise. But the dawn, at least, offers one the chance to experience that awakening of something radiant and unknown.

And that’s all I am asking– just that chance.

That breaking dawn and the possibility accompanying it is what I see in this new piece at the top, Day’s First Color. It is 6″ by 6″ on paper and part of the annual Little Gems show that opens next Friday, February 10, at the West End Gallery.

Now, it’s time to make use of that chance.

Here’s a song from Cat Stevens from his 1971 album Teaser and the Firecat. I played the hell out of that album when it came out, with this song, Morning Has Broken (which is an early 20th century hymn), Peace Train, and Moonshadow, among others. I was also greatly attracted to the artwork on the album cover which was painted by Cat Stevens. It has a naive quality and use of color that has probably influenced me in ways I haven’t recognized or acknowledged until recently. We all take in many things and synthesize them quickly, often not realizing how much they contribute to our whole.

Hmm…