Within the Landscape: The Transformational Stillness of the Moment
The warm air and sunlight of the
day invited me to set aside my busy work and to step outside of my daily
routine to allow myself to remember what it feels like to belong to the living
world. As an artist whose works are
rooted in my firsthand experiences of nature, I realize that it is vital to my
work and to my being that I frequently reconnect with the natural world.
And so today, my companion and I
set out to explore and enjoy a stretch of the Appalachian Trail that is but a
short journey eastward from our town of Front Royal, Virginia.
As we stepped away from our
vehicle we walked softly towards the trail marker and towards the entry-point
to the path we would walk and pause along on this day of radiant sunlight and
invigorating freshness. And at this
point of entry, I entered into this experience with a total openness to the
moment—and a yearning to touch nature, and be touched in return.
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| Encircled by beauty--along the Appalachian Trail. March 1, 2012. |
And because I accepted the
invitation to journey out into the landscape, I was rewarded by an experience that
restored me to a sense of wholeness. During the hours my companion and I walked
along the Appalachian trail, I came to remember my body in relationship with
earth and sky—and the variety of flora and fauna that make a home upon the
ground beneath our feet, as well as the life that moves through the air that
envelopes us while it also opens upwards in atmospheric veils of light and color.
While allowing my senses to connect
with my surroundings, my sense of child-like wonder and curiosity awakened. And I began to remember.
 |
| One of my drawings of the landscape, in an early stage of development. |
As before, during other experiences
of going out into the wooded landscape in early March, I remembered the feeling
and energy of the Earth just before spring—how the moisture-softened ground
beneath our feet yields to the imprints of change will that allow new life to
come forth.
Perhaps it was my awareness of
how my feet seemed to meld with the pliable soil as I walked, or perhaps it was
the manner that my skin responded to the vigorous breeze that animated the
surrounding landscape—but my sense of touch was heightened to the point where I
could feel the textures of stone and moss, of matted grasses and fissured bark
of trees as if my hand were actually touching these surfaces.
As I glanced around for a place
to pause and draw my surroundings, the sculptural forms of the extending roots
of a particularly large tree looked as if they would embrace me in the desired moments
of solace and meditation. And so I sat there, nestled within the spread
of the tree roots for a spell; entranced by the stillness of the moment. And I
began to draw—not to produce a finished drawing—but to explore and to understand
the relationships between myself and all that I was experiencing in this moment
of connection. I have learned that drawing
while within the landscape focuses my meditative awareness, and allows me to
feel the fullness of the inter-relationships between all that I perceive both
before me—and within me.
 |
| "Natural History" by Linda L. Anderson. 30" x 40" Acrylic on Canvas and Fabric, with original Serigraph Print |
My companion had his camera as
his creative medium of connection with the forms, shapes, textures and lines of
nature. All was in harmony as we each attuned
both our outer vision and inward vision to this place in nature, and to this
experience.
Suspended within this stretch of
time wherein I responded to the surrounding environment with pencil moving over
the surface of paper, I realized a sense of being completely centered in the
moment. And from this center, the
energies of life moved through the stillness of my own being—flowing—even as the
air moved around and over the silent surfaces of ancient stones.
And from this center of stillness
I remembered the beauty of stream waters alive with the energy of fluidity and
change. And I remembered the beauty of the sky uplifting me to a sense of openness
and movement, while I also remembered that comforting sense of being a part of the
beauty of the earth that nurtures the patient energy of deep life—seeds, roots
and crystalline formations—at its source
And in such meditative moment of
remembering and connection, I fully experience myself as being whole.
"We should be impressed by the beauty and fragility of the dynamic balance that has been preserved for so many hundreds of millions of years during which life has persisted on earth. And we should especially appreciate the shortness of our tenure on earth and use the powers we have so recently assumed to perpetuate, not destroy, the balance." ~Eliot Porter~ in Appalachian Wilderness: The Great Smokey Mountains Natural and Human History by Edward Abbey, with the photographs of Eliot Porter,
and Epilogue by Harry M. Caudill. c.1973 Ballantine Books, New York.
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