I was looking online for an image for today’s blogpost when I came across this image of Willie Nelson photographed by the great Annie Leibovitz. I completely lost my train of thought and was completely entranced by this image. What a face.
It immediately reminded me of a post from the other day, Unafraid, that was about a simple painting of mine with a tree blowing in silhouette against a colorful sky of slash strokes. The post was about how the lack of details let the image tell its own story, create its own feel without filter of extraneous information.
Just like this face.
This face is a national treasure, a compendium of tales. Every moment of hard living is etched into that face, out there for all to see. Unafraid.
I’ve always been interested in how people’s lives are reflected in their faces. When I worked at the restaurant we would try to guess if incoming guests would want to sit in the smoking or non-smoking section. The smokers, particularly the women, were usually pretty easy to spot with the many small vertical wrinkle that formed around their mouth and the way the smoking affected their skin in general. It was usually drier and lacked robust color.
You can tell Willie’s smoked just a bit in his time.
I look at that face and I feel a little better about the increasing number of folds and creases I find every new day in my own face. Each line is a testimony to a little more time spent here, another day of experience. In this culture of constantly seeking the appearance of youth, I see them as badges of honor and hopefully I can wear them with pride, unafraid.
Here’s a little Willie…
Redtree Times 