Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Blind Faith’

Can’t Find My Way Home

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on January 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Night Runner— At Principle Gallery, Alexandria, VA

What we have in life that we can count on is who we are and where we come from… For better or worse, that is what we have to sustain us in our endeavors, to buttress us in our darker moments, and to remind us of our identity. Without those things, we are adrift.

–Terry Brook, A Knight of the Word

Feeling adrift this morning, like I’ve lost sight of land and can’t exactly find my bearings. I am hoping that today doesn’t begin a long period of such a feeling for others in this country. Like forty years of drifting on empty seas or wandering aimlessly in the desert.

But as the fantasy writer Terry Brook points out above, when one is adrift in those darker moments all we can count on is who we are and all that this knowledge entails. Who we are is our strength and that must sustain us when we find ourselves adrift.

The question is: Who are we? Or should it be: Who am I?

I can’t say who we are anymore. I thought I knew but the fact remain that I don’t know.

Maybe I never did.

But I do know who I am.

I know what I value, what I respect, what I cherish.  I know my strengths and weaknesses, what I am and what I am not. And that can’t be changed because it remains the only compass bearing that I know for certain is true, the only one I trust to guide me when I am adrift.

And this morning, I feel far removed from my homeland. Adrift and in the dark with only who I am to guide me home.

Here’s a favorite song on that theme from Blind Faith with Steve Winwood‘s iconic vocals.

Read Full Post »

Can’t Find My Way Home

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Painting, tagged , , , , , on January 7, 2018| 6 Comments »

I opened the YouTube site this morning in hopes of finding a suitable song for this Sunday morning’s musical interlude and it was right there, waiting for me in the recommended section. I began to listen to the song and opened my files to find an image that jibed with the song, at least as I was hearing it in the moment. I opened a file of images from several years back and the first one I looked at felt instantly like a match.

Sometimes things fall into place.

And I appreciate that because there are so many other times when everything is a struggle, when every decision seems clouded with doubt and every action feels out of rhythm. Slog is a word that comes to mind. Just the sound of the word brings to mind the effort required on those difficult days.

But these effortless days wash away all remnants of that word and feeling. I remember that the painting I chose, Only Now, shown at the top being done on such a day in the early days of 2012. It seemed to fall on to the canvas without much assistance or direction on my part. It needed to exist in that moment, needed to find its way into this world.

Needed to find its way home.

Interestingly, this painting has never found a permanent home in this world. It has been at the gallery that represents my work in California for several years now and the ease and freedom in it that makes it a personal favorite for me has never spoken loudly enough to someone who might give it a permanent home. which is not that unusual as some of the paintings that speak to me most personally are often the last to make their way to a new home. Maybe the void in these pieces that need to be filled by the viewer in order to complete them can only be filled by me.

We’ll see.

So this week’s song is fittingly titled Can’t Find My Way Home from Blind Faith back in 1969. Blind Faith, for you youngsters out there, was considered one of the first rock supergroups. The group was comprised of Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker and Rick Grech, all stars in big-name, established bands. They didn’t last long– one album and one tour– but they left a mark, including this song.

Give a listen and have yourself a good day.

Read Full Post »