Blog

Some things this pandemic has taught me.  Life is brief.  Moments are fleeting.  Time is precious. 

I'm tired of living virtually online.  Life is hollow and tinny in a virtual space. It's a shallow hologram of reality filtering out all the exquisite nuances of sensory experience.  Life lived through a screen on phones, tablets and computers is a far cry from live experience. I have come to deeply appreciate all that has been lost.  And I don't think I'm alone with these thoughts.

I miss experiencing all my senses in real time, in real places.  I want to see the true color, texture, and nuance in paintings, sample scents in a perfume shop and the aroma of a bakery. I want to touch surfaces and feel the cool smooth wood of a sculpture and taste a friend's cooking.  I'm craving sit down restaurants, bear hugs and air kisses from friends and the enveloping sound and vibrations of real concert music experienced in a crowd of people. I want to walk through botanical gardens.  I miss the spontaneous laughter and sharing of art experiences by my plein air painting buddies.  I want to feel the boom of fireworks and hear the oohs and ahhs of a crowd. I miss being able to travel to learn and immerse myself in foreign cultures.  I'm appreciating what I took for granted and have lost.  And I think we all are feeling this way.

This time of quarantine might be a good thing.   It's giving us a reset from our fast paced lives, lived with our heads down looking at screens, too busy to experience fully what life has to offer. It's time to look up.  It's time to slow down and smell the flowers. There's a whole world around us that is ephemeral; whizzing past us at light speed.  And we've been missing it.  

We've been forced to pause and experience all our senses. Friends are reaching out to reconnect on the phone instead of texting, people are off treadmills and walking and playing outdoors with their families.  Families are cooking together and trying new recipes.  People are discovering they crave creativity; stories, art, music, theatre and dance. 

As they say, this too shall pass.  I hope it's an end to virtual living and that people learn to connect with the world in real time. I hope people will respond to this time out, with a lust for beauty and immersive living and a desire for the genuine - especially the arts.

I for one will be taking time to experience every gift life has to offer my senses in real time.  I want to visit more museums and experience art in person, burn the scented candle I was saving, visit the restaurants I wanted to try, hug all my friends, mail real letters, call my loved ones instead of texting, go to more concerts and plays and try new experiences. I'm even going to enjoy trips to the grocery store.  And I will  be slowing down to take more risks and experiment with my paintings. I want to take time to paint in a more contemplative way.  I'm hoping this strange time leads to a renaissance in real living and the enjoyment of life's daily gifts - a virtual end and a new beginning.