"Etched as they are against the stillness, shapes that dance can evoke great beauty. Yet the stillness is never absolute: in waves and particles of light is the continual dance which adorns the countenance of the earth with colour. Music too breaks the silence and stillness through waves of sound. These are the vital thresholds where the wonders of beauty arise. The angel of these thresholds is the imagination." John O'Donahue, Beauty, The Invisible Embrace
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The fluency of icicles, formed in a moment of time when the temperature leans in melting limbo, capture our attention with their dangling defiance and their ever altering pointed tip shape. Surprised, caught off guard by flash freeze motion, these light catching shards decorate our staid architecture like frosting designs a cermonial cake. The difference? Ice art never remains the same. Like it's counterpart, the free flowing waterfalls, icicles continue to move. It's all in how we understand the concept of time.
In a place where white envelopes the landscape, where colour fades from existance under the stillness of February's death rattle, winter's dewdrops hang from our eaves daring us to smile again. Still life beauty behaves within the rich timeless stretch of eternity. It is my belief the winter faeries, with their frost wing tips and delicate touch have a hand in teaching us this otherwordly lesson of looking at time and beauty with more fluidity.
Or, is it just in my imagination?
14 comments:
Great photos! Very modern artsy. No, it's not in your imagination. It's like knowing that ice fields move, even though you can't see the movement.
when I was a kid we sword fighted with them.
judy...i love these shots! the house is very old...located downtown. i managed to capture quite a few goodies. it was just one of those days when i came home with a handful of pics i liked. thanks.
Rick....we did too...and sucked on them like popsicles.
i don't know if its how the buildings are sloped or if its just the amount of snow and ice we get here, but it seems to me the icicles are much more plentiful than in the city i grew up in which is in another province. there are signs everywhere warning you of falling ice...a true danger believe me. a bunch dropped off a building at the university last week and really damage a car. good thing it wasn't the top of someones head.
Oooooo, I LOVE these pictures, my dear.....They are like oieces of "art"....trully! I have always been fascinated by icicles and the beauty of them, as well as the almost lethel look of them, too...What a combination of feelings icicles provoke....!
BTW: My Oscar commentary is up...!
Gorgeous photos! I have never seen icicles that big!! (Though I might have done as a child in 1947 when we had terrific snow and a very hard winter!.)
I'm glad you like these, Naomi. I think I will print them off and see how they look blown up a bit.
Look forward to reading your Oscar post.
Gilly....believe it or not, there are BIGGER ones around here! I will keep my camera with me over the next two days and see if I can capture a few more.
those images are stunning... words are useless (mine anyway) to elaborate on them.... am just going to look and let them wash through me....
Oh, gorgeous photos and haunting words.
I truly love the effects on these images...
paul....jamie told me he thought it had a religious feel to it. amazing how something so ordinary, or something we take for granted around here can illicit such feelings. I guess that's what Father O is describing....we can cross a threshold to see beauty in the lines and shapes all around us which in turn opens us up to expanding our imaginations.
thank you my friend. I will get this one printed off and if it is any good, I'll send you a copy.
Pinky...good to see you again. :) It was fun to find the words to match my feelings when I looked at the photo which I find challenging. Usually its the other way around...words first than find a photo.
I'm happy you think it worked.
Love the pictures! Fluidity is the lesson here! Very good post.
Thank you Mark. Two thoughts on this piece merged and dovetailed into that lesson. I was trying to write something visual using the word "spectral" and I also had been thinking about a sermon a friend of mine had mentioned...on being held hostage to our worrys and emotions and not being able to move forward etc.
i would like that very much - thank you, it's beautiful, and vert spiritual
So exquisite. How could one not think those icicles came anywhere but from the land of fairy. This was just magical!
paul...i'll let you know how it turns out and pop it in the post. someone asked me this morning if it was the side of a church.
selma....I have a few others I will post in the coming days...ice and faeries do go together around these parts. :)
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