Once on a Wing

Keep Your Hands Open

So many times it seems like the best thing to do with life is clutch it tightly between my fingers.
"Its so good right now." I tell myself, "Why would I want change?".
Maybe if I squeeze hard enough I can keep it like this.
But I am only clutching air. I am only holding a passing beam of sunshine.

I'm reminded this morning to keep my hands open.
No matter the fullness of this moment .. keep your fingers spread wide, and your palms open.
I'm breathing that thought this morning.

I'm watching the ceiling fan turn.. its breeze gently stroking the black and white photos on my walls.. dancing with the white feathers on my dream catcher from Chandel.





Andrew Tipton

The Questions to My Answers

Where are the questions that got us here?

I've been drawing a lot lately. Black and white sketches of the human body.
It has been an eye-opening glimpse into how I perceive my world.
I have realized that while I am aware of what a human body looks like.. as a whole.. I am clueless to the intricacies and details of its form.

Show me a photo of a naked woman and ask me to sketch her... I will. In a few brief moments I will use my pencil to construct a rough drawing. When I am finished you will see her curves, her lines, her legs.. you will see her long flowing hair, you will be able to identify her as the woman in the photograph.
But ask me to specifically draw her hands.. ask me to only draw her lips, or her shoulders.. ask me to draw her cheek bones, or the curve of her stomach.
Drawing the individual parts is a challenge!
I think this difficulty comes from never fully questioning the details - never understanding how they flow together to create an complex design of human beauty.
Sometimes my sketch of a person looks slightly off.. it seems solid at first glance, but maybe a shoulder is crooked, maybe her torso doesn't quite line up.. Once I know why parts fit together, then I will be able to accurately explain them in my drawing.

To accurately capture the human form.. it seems like you have to stare beyond the general lines.. dissecting the "Answer" of the body until you have fulfilled the questions that create that form.

Q: Why do the shadows fall slightly heavier on the left side of her lips?
Q: How slender are her fingers?
Q: How much space is there between her eyes and mouth?

Instead of looking at a photograph of a person and trying to express their entirety.. it would serve me much better to understand the pieces that make them who they are. Once I comprehend the parts, then I will know how to draw them as a whole.






Andrew Tipton

Iridescent Blue Nameless

This is a photograph I took last week of a of dark purple Man'O War jellyfish.. near Alys Beach in Florida.

You might read that explanation, and be satisfied.. say, "Ok, I see."
You might read my explanation and think to yourself.. "Well yeah, of course, I already knew that."

But, I wish you could have been there with me on the beach.. when we discovered him. When we sat down and actually looked at this ridiculous blob stretched out.. slender tentacles still clinging to the edge of the ocean.. the incandescent shimmering of its body.. I wish you could have seen it up close.

What is in a name? A purple Man'O War jellyfish.
That is the name of this thing. At least that is what someone decided we should call it.
Does a name explain, does it define, does it de-mystify?
When we look at a picture like this.. are we calm?
Why are we calm?
Because we think we already understand what it is we see?
Do we believe that because we have named this thing.. that makes it fathomable?
We remember what we have been taught.. and an answer comes to our lips.
A name.
Jellyfish.

I love names.. they serve an amazing purpose. Allowing us to collectively identify and organize life in our minds.. allowing millions of people to communicate.
But I think the simplicity of names have untruthfully given simplicity to the objects themselves.
Instead of remaining a mind-blowing visual experience.. we have turned this creature into: "Jellyfish".. and in doing so, we've falsely removed its mystery and its magic.

Take away the name of what you see.. detach yourself from description, from definition, from your own responsibility to comprehend it.. and look at it again.
I think to see something as it exists without a name and without a description, is to see it with utmost clarity.








Andrew Tipton

Local

The breeze from the ocean is coming in the sliding glass door on my left. It is cool and slight; sends chills across my skin.. good chills. The skin I wear is a golden bronze color, warm from the inside, radiating heat. I lay on the beach today with sand between my toes and in my hair and against my shoulders.. looking up at a blue sky, listening to a blue ocean - feeling like a local.
The surfboard sticks to the curve of these waves.. saltwater champagne, bubbles everywhere. Purple and blue jellyfish on the shore. No sharks in sight.
This is my peaceful rebellion for the day, the chance to look out to sea and wonder to myself at myself.
Looks down at his hands and his legs wrapped around his surfboard.. looks beneath the surface of the water he sits on.. looks as little fish circle around him.
Blessed like colors are blessed.



Andrew Tipton

Lava Silver Waves Breaking

Andrew Tipton

TIGER KILLS LION

Re-imagine what can be.
Remove the limitations of our stories and the ways that we behave without thought.. how long have we thought the same way, spoken the same thing.. how many lies will eat & drink up before we want something better than what someone else has to offer.
They say, "I want to be him" or "I want to be her" - but when do we ever see the ones that want to be the ones?
I want me.. I want us. We are able.. we are gods.. we are what does not happen. We are what has never been. We are the stories that insite confusion.. ask the "why>", never refuse to ask the "why?".
Life is profound and a powerful creature.. it takes what we offer and becomes what we can never dream.

A tiger killed a lion today in Turkey. And the world noticed.
I noticed.




Andrew