A Spiritual Longing for Home
Words of Wisdom from Julia Margaret Cameron
Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) was a pioneer of close-up portrait photography and paved the way for portraiture as an art form.
“When an actor is in the moment, he or she is engaged in listening for the next right thing creatively. When a painter is painting, he or she may begin with a plan, but that plan is soon surrendered to the painting’s own plan. This is often expressed as ‘The brush takes the next stroke.’ In dance, in composition, in sculpture, the experience is the same: we are more the conduit than the creator of what we express.”
“I believe that… my first successes in my out-of-focus pictures were a fluke. That is to say, that when focusing and coming to something which, to my eye, was very beautiful, I stopped there instead of screwing on the lens to the more definite focus which all other photographers insist upon… ”
“The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.”
It is said her last word on this Earth was, "Beauty".
1. Painter of the Sea and Coast
Cornish artist Sue Read was born and brought up on Wooda Farm, where she now paints in her studio. Sue is passionate about her Cornish heritage and creates paintings suffused with the atmosphere, light and weather of the North Cornwall coast.
Walking the cliffs and diving through the crashing waves, Sue finds inspiration for her paintings, and reconnects with the healing power of nature.
2. A Spiritual Longing for Home
I often feel I don't belong here in this modern world. I have a deep connection to ancient places where I feel more at home. It is like a homesickness tinged with the sadness of lost time.
And then, I discovered the beautiful Welsh word 'Hiraeth'...
In an early Welsh verse, an unknown poet asks the purpose of this 'cruel hiraeth' that breaks his heart and wakes him in the night. It’s often connected to deep pain and a mixture of longing, nostalgia, and wistfulness for ancient places of the past.
I so relate to this. Perhaps you do too?
3. It's Time for a New Renaissance
The Middle Ages (sometimes referred to as the 'Dark Ages') was the period between the 5th and 15th centuries, starting with the collapse of the Roman Empire.
During the Middle Ages, there were no great scientific accomplishments, no great art produced, no great leaders born. The people had squandered the advancements of their predecessors, and enmeshed themselves instead in what 18th-century English historian Edward Gibbon called 'barbarism and religion'.
What followed was the Renaissance. Starting around the 14th century, European thinkers, writers and artists began to look back and celebrate the art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome.
The Renaissance profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Its influence was felt in art, architecture, philosophy, literature, music, science, technology, politics, and religion.
The development of perspective was part of a wider trend towards realism in the arts. Painters developed other techniques, studying light, shadow, and, famously in the case of Leonardo da Vinci, human anatomy. Underlying these changes in artistic method was a renewed desire to depict the beauty of nature and unravel the truth of aesthetics.
In the crazy times we are living in now, I think it's time for a new Renaissance (a rebirth). A time when humanity rediscovers its innate wisdom. A time when nature, common sense, beauty, and creative curiosity guide our lives.
If you’ve enjoyed reading this letter, I’d love you to share it with a friend or two. And should you come across anything beautiful this week, send it my way! I always love finding new things to read or watch.
Wishing you a wonderful day,
