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January Blues: Chase Them away with Art

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Two- and three-dimensional art inspires us to slow down, contemplate, and think — and January is the perfect time to focus on such an activity.

For many, January is not an easy month.

Type “January Blues” in an Internet search engine and you’ll get digital pages on the subject. According to the experts at the top of the algorithm, January Blues is anything from a “dip in positivity” to a critical health issue that requires the expertise of more experts to manage (since overcoming or solving problems, in the world of experts, is rarely an option).

art paintings wall january display

Few of us have home walls filled with this much art. What we do have, however, is worth taking time to stop and view, ponder, and contemplate. January is a great month for doing this.

Commonsense, however, and when we choose to use it, tells us that January will be rough because it comes on the heels of the holidays. In a normal world, we’ve just experienced weeks of bright lights, good cheer, and families and friends getting together to eat, play games, exchange gifts, and generally experience joy and acceptance in one another’s presence.

Often during the holidays, we set aside various issues and challenges for the future – January – and when January comes, well, those various issues and challenges are waiting for us. Oh, joy.

All Problems Have Solutions

Okay, so that’s the problem, but all problems have solutions. The first step to achieving any solution is serious thought, and for opportunity to think and reflect, January positively glows.

candles beeswax glow flame colorful calming

Candles add a glow of light and warmth to our environs that inspire a sense of thought and contemplation.

There is time, quiet, and solitude. In the northern climes, weather is generally hostile to active gardening or sun bathing, so we’re inside. And if we eschew the TV, phone, or screen of any sort (if you want to make a New Year’s resolution, this is a good one), we take advantage of that time, quiet, and solitude to think, contemplate, meditate, plan, innovate, and even create.

And here’s where art comes in. If you’ve got a work of art on your wall, January invites you to brew a cup of something hot, snuggle up in a chair, behold the artwork, and ponder. We had a client once who wrote us about a painting she bought:

“I hung the artwork in my bedroom. In the morning, I bring my coffee there and contemplate the piece while I sip. Throughout the day, I stop what I’m doing, sit on the bed, and look at the scene. In the evening, before I go retire, I look again, and think. This has brought me great peace.”

Art Promotes Pondering

Aside from being the client from paradise, this intelligent thinker has discovered that two-dimensional visual art, unlike TV sitcoms, talk talk “news” analysis, “reality” fare, and made-for-the-moment dramas, allows the mind time to ponder, uninterrupted by commercials, proselytizing, and propaganda.

January entertainment jigsaw puzzles pottery candles

It’s the perfect entertainment for January evenings — putting together a jigsaw puzzle while sipping tea. A candle in the background provides a sense of calm.

Art inspires thinking. Thinking is a crucial element to freedom. And freedom is a worthwhile pursuit every month of the year. Why not start with January?

And while we’re at it, let’s go back to that coffee cup. Three-dimensional functional art – as in pottery, for example – is also a means to contemplation and thought. There is pleasure in holding something that human hands have crafted, stimulation to the mind through touch. Brewing hot fare and pouring it into a beautiful mug is a self-directed, mini-ritual that slows us down, and slowing down is the first step to thinking. You can’t think deeply when you’re multi-tasking.

And don’t stop with the cup. Another artisan means of slowing down is the humble candle – timeless technology perfect for January’s early dark days. You don’t have to get into a lotus position and chant om to reap benefits from the candle’s light. Just bask in its glow.

As we think more, as we ponder and contemplate, we begin to find that we want to express what is going on in our heads. Communication, after all, is not the exclusive province of those who can afford to buy the airwaves and the publishing companies. Expression of thought is necessary for individual and societal health.

It Feels Right to Write

note cards greeting art nostalgia journals write

Whether you write personal notes in a journal or a letter to a friend in a greeting card, writing is an excellent way to share the things we’ve been thinking about.

Some people blog. Others keep diaries. Still others – rare gems indeed – write notes and cards. As with the pottery mug, art cards and hand-crafted journals are tactilely pleasurable to use, adding to the experience.

And before I leave this essay, let me put in a word for jigsaw puzzles. If you want to break the worry, angst, anxiety, frenzy, and fear that will gladly be our Normal if we let them, spend an hour each evening putting little pieces of random-cut cardboard together. The act of concentrating on something that ISN’T chronically agitating is calming. Calm is good.

Art is good. All these elements – paintings, prints, pottery, candles, cards, journals, jigsaws – we have at the gallery, and we invite you to take one of these January days to step into a warm, bright place and just look at the array of beauty that individual humans create.

Creativity is an essential element to be human. And we create because, first, we think. Take advantage of January, and allow yourself time and place and scope and freedom to think.

Wenaha GalleryArt Brings Joy to January is the featured Art Event at Wenaha Gallery from January 4, 2022 through January 31.

Contact the gallery, located at 219 East Main Street, Dayton, WA, by phone at 509.382.2124 or e-mail art@wenaha.com. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday through Friday, and by appointment. Visit the Wenaha Gallery website online at www.wenaha.com.

 

 

 

high jumper fosbury flop kessie lewis

Fosbury Flop — Sweet Success in Bronze

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In the foreground, The High Jumper, by Larry Kessie; in the background, You Can Fly by Clay Lewis. The athlete is jumping with technique called Fosbury Flop.

Nobody embraces or welcomes bad experiences.

But here’s an odd thing about bad experiences: sometimes they produce sweet fruit.

high jumper bronze statue fosbury flop larry kessie

The High Jumper, bronze statue by Larry Kessie, captures the competitor just as he begins to leave the ground.

That’s what Clay Lewis and Larry Kessie, both of Richland, WA, discovered, years after they were in fifth grade together, and one of them was wrongfully accused of misappropriating a pencil. Through efforts to punish the alleged miscreant, their teacher unfortunately exacerbated a deplorable situation into a traumatic one, the results of which stayed with both men well into their adulthood.

Seeking Closure and Finding Friendship

“Even though Clay and I attended Kennewick High School together, we had not linked up until a few years ago, through the common denominator of my wife who had worked with him and urged me to have a discussion on how that event had affected me,” Kessie remembers.  “When we did link up, I found that it had negative impacts on Clay’s life as well.”

The result of this meeting was unexpected and . . . sweet. Not only did both men move toward closure of a negative experience, they opened up a novel, exciting chapter in their lives. As their newly revived friendship grew, they embarked, together, on an unforeseen direction: bronze sculpture and something called The Fosbury Flop.

The Fosbury Flop

Neither man had sculpted before. Kessie worked 35 years as an architect. Lewis’s career took him into coaching track and field, where he achieved a reputation as a guru of high jumping, most notably in the technique known as the Fosbury Flop.

you can fly fosbury flop clay lewis bronze statue

You Can Fly, bronze statue by Clay Lewis. It captures the high jumper just as he is clearing the bar. The backwards leap is the Fosbury Flop.

This backwards leaping technique, named after Dick Fosbury, who jumped 7’4.25″ to win the Gold Medal at the 1968 Olympics, captured the attention of then 16-year-old Clay Lewis. He taught himself this new unique style of high jumping, and was soon recognized as one of the first Fosbury floppers in Washington State. As years went by, Lewis —  inducted in 2009 into the Washington State Hall of Fame for coaches — found himself speaking at a number of Northwest track clinics, giving specifics on how to do the Fosbury flop. As a visual aid, he was limited to using Barbie dolls to demonstrate the technique, and for varying reasons, was frustrated with the limitations Barbie invoked. He was looking for a better visual aid that wasn’t quite so . . . distracting.

A Life-Changing Idea

That’s when Kessie had an idea, and the two men started on their journey into the world of bronze sculpture.

“I bought two human armatures, some clay, and a lot of anatomy books, and we got started on creating the coaching aid Clay needed,” Kessie remembers.

larry kessie sculptor high jumper fosbury flop bronze

Larry Kessie, architect and sculptor of The High Jumper

“We both had no idea where this was going, or how they were going to turn out. We each selected independent positions of the jumper so that Clay would have two independent aids.”

Kessie’s sculpture, The High Jumper, focuses on the jumper just before he leaps; Lewis’s work, You Can Fly, catches him mid-air, clearing the bar. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, because that’s when the sculptures were done. Getting there took a lot of time, effort, researching, and determination.

“Our learning curve was very steep,” Kessie says.

“Correct form and musculature were very important to both of us. We continually reviewed the anatomy through pictures and anatomy books for artists and sculptures. We also used YouTube extensively.”

But . . .

“We found that the clay sculptures were developing in a manner not anticipated.”

Unsure of the direction things were going, Lewis invited a local international artist friend to give the two friends feedback on the project.

“The artist’s summary blew us away in that he compared our statues to some of the best he has seen professionally,” Kessie recalls. “He was amazed that it was our first sculptures, and there were two of them at that level.”

From Visual Aid to Bronze Sculpture

That was the encouragement they needed, and Kessie and Lewis advanced from clay prototypes to deciding to have their work cast into bronze at Valley Bronze in Joseph, OR. That move opened up a whole new dimension to their project, and the resulting art pieces encouraged them to broaden their horizons beyond a visual teaching aid —  because one thing they discovered upon receiving the finished sculptures is that large bronze works, with stands and tables upon which to place them, are cumbersome to transport from coaching clinic to clinic. It’s not impossible, just difficult, and there are better alternatives:

clay lewis coach hall fame sculptor fosbury flop

Clay Lewis, 2009 inductee into the Washington State Hall of Fame for coaches. He is the sculptor of the bronze, You Can Fly.

“I photographed both sculptures and have shown them to my track athletes,” Lewis says. “What I have found is, coaches and athletes are getting inspired by just seeing a photo as well as the fact that we created something that represents what they love.

“To quote one coach, ‘They are jaw dropping.’

“They do take apart and transport okay, but we don’t want them to flop, drop and break. So for the most part I will use the photos of the works.”

And the works themselves? They are now limited edition art pieces, with a 25 run for each. Each man is planning a second sculpture, as they continue walking on the new adventure path of marketing the first ones. They hope to inspire not only athletes, but anyone with a dream and desire.

The Sweet Fruit of Fine Art

“This experience, this sculpting journey has been what ‘art’ is supposed to be, at least in my mind,” Kessie says. “Art is integral with the culture of life.”

Lewis agrees.

“The sculptures represent a life changing time in one’s life who has had the experience of jumping. It is an emotional but gratifying time in our lives.

“To jump over a person’s own head is not a normal thing to do.

“We’re hoping that the sculptures will spark not only an interest in track and field, but in art and sculpture.

“It’s fun, rewarding, and therapeutic.”

Not to mention, sweet.

Wenaha GalleryLarry Kessie and Clay Lewis are the featured Art Event artists from May 11 to June 7, with both of their sculptures on display, and for sale, at the gallery.

Contact Wenaha Gallery, located at 219 East Main Street, Dayton, WA, by phone at 509.382.2124 or e-mail art@wenaha.com. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday through Friday, and by appointment. Visit the Wenaha Gallery website online at www.wenaha.com.

 

 

 

sacred grove contemplative forest woods greg olsen

Stay Contemplative — Sacred Grove by Greg Olson

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A quiet, still place invites contemplation and thought. Sacred Grove, limited edition print by Greg Olsen

When is the last time you were contemplative?

Being contemplative takes time and a bit of effort, because we must find a quiet place where we can think. This means no TV, no phone, no computer screen, none of the accoutrements of  technology that factor so strongly in “modern” life. Too often, we focus on acquiring knowledge — facts, “news,” up to date reporting on trends, politics, and snippets of science — but without contemplation, we are unable to process these facts, sort them out, determine what is true and what is false.

We become human encyclopedias of stuff. Our brains are attics filled with everything from priceless paintings to broken tennis rackets. Without time to be contemplative, however, we’re unable to distinguish between the valuable and the mundane, the functional and the broken.

We need to get away from the noise and the chatter, the constant tugging on our sleeve by mass media to “Listen to this!” and “Be alarmed about that!”

Greg Olsen’s art print, Sacred Grove, takes us to such a contemplative place. It is quiet here, and very still. In this calm, hushed forest, we can think.

“But I don’t have a forest like this near where I live!” a voice objects.

That’s okay — that’s why artists create images of beauty, to invite people to step into them and be there. Look at the image. Step onto the path. Imprint it upon your mind.

Get Away to a Peaceful Place

There are always places to be contemplative — many people choose the bathroom because it generally has a lock on the door. There’s the porch. A park bench. Even the sofa on a Sunday afternoon. The important thing is to not invite the phone in on the conversation, or the TV, or the talk show, podcast, radio broadcast, newscaster, politician, medico, financier, philanthropist, Instagram celebrity, pop singer — it’s a pretty long list, isn’t it?

Indeed, the sheer quantity of mass media temptation that draws us away from being contemplative is . . . something to contemplate.

Stay Contemplative — It’s an Antidote to Fear

Wenaha GalleryThe featured image to this article is Sacred Grove by Greg Olsen. You may purchase the print online at this link. We would be absolutely delighted to frame the work for you, working online and by phone — something we have been doing successfully for many years with out out-of-town clients. Email us at Wenaha.com to start the conversation.

More works by Greg Olsen are at this link.

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early morning visitors deer welcoming country william phillips

Stay Welcoming — Early Morning Visitors by William Phillips

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early morning visitors deer welcoming country william phillips

Shy, and uncertain of a true welcoming, a group of deer stand outside the farmhouse and wait. Early Morning Visitors, framed limited edition print by William Phillips.

We’ve all seen a countenance that is welcoming. A smile, a warm glance, these invite us to come closer and be part of that person’s day. We feel wanted and accepted — delightful emotions that all humans crave.

How easy it is, however, to be not welcoming — to hurt people because we are too busy, too self-absorbed, too fearful to invite them closer. The most obvious incidence of this occurs when we wear masks, physical or figurative, that block people from seeing our faces. It is difficult, if not impossible, to be transparent and open when we hide ourselves away.

The interesting thing about people in our lives is that they are not always convenient. They’re not always the people we wanted to see. They may not arrive when it’s convenient to see them. They may arrive unasked, unexpected. Or they may be late. Or too early. In a culture that prizes convenience to the point that we frequently choose it over more valuable elements, like freedom or quality, unexpected arrivals mess up our schedules. Instead of being welcoming we are — not always unreasonably — irritated or annoyed, distant or in a hurry.

Smile with Welcome

William Phillips’ artwork Early Morning Visitors, is a reminder to us to slow down, suspend our schedule, take off our masks and smile with our eyes as well as our mouths. A herd of deer hovers shyly around the outskirts of a farmhouse. Though the land “belongs” to the owner of the house, the deer do not know this, because this is their home as well. The wise person, if he wants to be welcoming to these furtive guests, keeps the dogs away. He is aware of the extreme sensitivity of these early morning guests, and responds with sensitivity as well.

It takes time, and thought, and determination to be welcoming. It is not always convenient. But it is very often worthwhile.

Stay Welcoming — The Alternative Is to Shut People Out

Wenaha GalleryThe featured image to this article is Early Morning Visitors by William Phillips. You may purchase the print online at this link. We would be absolutely delighted to frame the work for you, working online and by phone — something we have been doing successfully for many years with out out-of-town clients. Email us at Wenaha.com to start the conversation.

More works by William Phillips are at this link.

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Stay Excited about Life — Great Big World by Suellen Ross

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Cats are cool; dogs are not. But dogs, who get excited about the world around them, seem to enjoy life more. Great Big World, framed open edition print by Sueellen Ross

Have you ever met someone who never gets excited about anything?

They may be polished, refined, sophisticated, a little cynical — all those adjectives that describe someone our society calls “cool.”

And “cool,” as we all know from  TV, movies, and the celebrity and music entertainment culture, is the ultimate thing to be.

But “cool,” with its absence of emotion, spontaneity, and childlike wonder, is also a bit boring. Cool people don’t drop down to their knees in the dirt to watch a bee pollinate a flower. Cool people don’t laugh with joy at the sight of balloons. They don’t play Catch the String with kittens.

Getting excited, about anything other than the latest trends, isn’t cool.

But maybe there’s more to life than being cool. Maybe people who aren’t so cool are more interesting, more engaged, more creative, more fun to be around.

Such is the personality of the puppy in Sueellen Ross’s framed print, Great Big World. This dog, definitely uncool, isn’t thinking about itself, isn’t focused on how it looks to others and what others think of it. Rather, this curious personality is fascinated by the world of flowers and insects, of movement and color, of shape and form and light and life. Excited by all the possibilities of the world around, this totally un-cool creature discovers the good things in life, because it’s willing to look for them.

The opposite of cool is warm. How much better to have a warm, open, engaging approach to life than a cool one!

Stay Excited about the World around You

Wenaha GalleryThe featured image to this article is Great Big World by Sueellen Ross. You may purchase the print online at this link. We would be absolutely delighted to frame the work for you, working online and by phone — something we have been doing successfully for many years with out out-of-town clients. Email us at Wenaha.com to start the conversation.

More works by Sueellen Ross are at this link.

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love letter communicating laramie charles wysocki

Stay Communicating: Love Letter from Laramie by Charles Wysocki

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Next to a face to face conversation, a good long letter is an excellent — and private — way to communicate. Love Letter from Laramie by Charles Wysocki

Communicating with one another is essential to healthy, strong relationships.

And while this seems so painfully obvious that it’s not worth mentioning, it is worth mentioning. Because, like eating food that truly nourishes, getting out for a walk, and turning off the TV, it’s one of those things we’d be better off doing, but don’t often enough actually do.

“Oh, I keep in touch with all my friends and family by texting and posting on social media,” some say. “I’m too busy to do anything else.”

But digital chatter, as many are increasingly learning, has little to do with strengthening relationships. Communicating via social media is like sitting, tete a tete, near the nosy neighbor’s fence, trying to have a private conversation. She butts in too much, scolding us for what we say, insisting that we acquiesce to what she believes. And she’s not beyond blocking our conversation completely, for our own good and that of society, of course. Such  (community) standards she has!

Charles Wysocki’s artwork, Love Letter from Laramie, reminds us that, when we can’t see the people we love, be with the people we love, interact face to face, close and personal, with the people in our lives who matter, we stay communicating by staying creative and interactive. A young woman in the wild, inhospitable west stops everything she’s doing to read the letter from the one she loves. These are words for her eyes alone, thoughts shared between two people that do not need to be, nor should be, filtered through an algorithm.

Meaningful communication requires not only time, effort, and persistence, but also — most importantly — privacy.

Stay Communicating — It’s How We Stay Strong

Wenaha GalleryThe featured image to this article is Love Letter from Laramie by Charles Wysocki. You may purchase the print online at this link. We would be absolutely delighted to frame the work for you, working online and by phone — something we have been doing successfully for many years with out out-of-town clients. Email us at Wenaha.com to start the conversation.

More works by Charles Wysocki are at this link.

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harvest busy laborers farmers vineyard june carey art print

Stay Busy: Harvest by June Carey

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It’s a warm day in the Tuscany landscape, a day on which to be pleasantly busy, peacefully occupied. Harvest, limited edition giclee canvas by June Carey.

The word “busy” has both good and bad connotations.

At its worst it describes the frenetic nature of modern American society: we must work smarter, harder, faster, and constantly in order to get ahead. Getting ahead, we understand, means making more money than others. Making more money, when we amass enough of it, translates into power. But ordinary people, no matter how smart, hard, fast, and constantly we work, rarely, if ever, get to that top tier.

It doesn’t stop us from being too busy, however. We work long hours. Read books about being smart and fast. Follow “successful” people on Instagram. Put ourselves down for not writing our own success story.

But there’s another kind of busy, synonyms to which are “pleasantly occupied,” or “genially employed.” In this busy-ness, we move easily from task to task, concentrated, but in no particular hurry. What we are doing is meaningful and good, under conditions that are not onerous, but rather, allow our mind to gently wander as our hands work. At the end of the day we feel good because kept moving, kept engaged, and accomplished something worth doing.

Such is the scene we see in June Carey’s limited edition giclee canvas, Harvest. It’s a sunny day in Tuscany (who wouldn’t want to be in Tuscany on a sunny day?) and the people working in the vineyards move from row to row, purposefully, but not frantically. The air is fresh, the sunlight warm, the shade welcome. There is a sense of peace in the quiet, companionability in being with others, satisfaction with work that is honest.

This is a good busy indeed.

Stay Talking

Wenaha GalleryThe featured image to this article is Harvest by June Carey. You may purchase the print online at this link. We would be absolutely delighted to frame the work for you, working online and by phone — something we have been doing successfully for many years with out out-of-town clients. Email us at Wenaha.com to start the conversation.

More works by June Carey are at this link.

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mother child gardening teaching family mike capser art print

Stay Teaching: Learning to Grow by Michael Capser

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Teachable moments are rarely planned. They happen as we spend time together. Learning to Grow, art print by Michael Capser.

While teaching is a profession, and a noble one,  it is not limited to a job.

Those of us who are fortunate remember a beloved math teacher who showed us the fool-proof way to figure out percentages; the English instructor who solved that whole “me and him” or “he and I” dilemma. But some of our finest and best teachers, and our first ones, are members of our family: our parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, grandparents. These are the people who have the strongest, most lasting and vested interest in the child.

Teaching is something that happens day by day, moment by moment, as adults interact with children, or even other adults.  We teach by example, by word, by listening, by caring. Some of the things we teach are concrete: how to plant a flower, how to knead dough and recognize when to stop, how to drive a car (every parent’s favorite). Other things we teach are social or ethical: saying please and thank you, recognizing how our tone affects our words, doing chores with the intent of doing them right.

And a more abstract teaching involves character: dignity, respect, honesty, compassion, kindness, understanding, goodness. These are not something we pick up from reading a book and answering a series of questions afterwards. These are elements we absorb as we live around people who are absorbing them themselves.

Quiet, Yet Dynamic, Teaching

Learning to Grow, Michael Capser’s artwork celebrating innocence and warmth, shows dynamic teaching in action. Side by side, mother and child transplant flowers. The woman leans easily into the task, the child squats down in the way young children so effortlessly do and “helps.” Part of the teaching is recognizing, which wise adults do, that little ones have little hands, short attention spans, and enormous quantities of imagination. The task itself is less important than the time together.

This type of teaching does not require an academic degree. But it most definitely requires a degree of caring.

Stay Teaching — You Have Much to Give

Wenaha GalleryThe featured image to this article is Learning to Grow by Michael Capser. You may purchase the print online at this link. We would be absolutely delighted to frame the work for you, working online and by phone — something we have been doing successfully for many years with out out-of-town clients. Email us at Wenaha.com to start the conversation.

More works by Michael Capser are available online at this link.

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quail run birds chatting monica stobie print

Stay Chatting: Quail Talk by Monica Stobie

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quail run birds chatting monica stobie print

Chatting is a pleasurable activity that we do every day as we interact with one another. Quail Talking, art print by Monica Stobie.

Thanks to modern technology, the word “chatting” doesn’t mean what it used to mean.

Now, the word implies texting, or typing on Messenger, or responding to a social media post. Emojis add depth to the conversation, or at least prevent misunderstanding, or soften an insult.

But chatting is a verbal thing, light and easy conversation among friends, families, and even acquaintances. When we check out at the grocery we chat with the cashier (and the person bagging our goods — they get overlooked a lot). At the library we chat with the librarian, sharing books we have read and picking up some good ideas from each other. On the street, we chat with people we bump into. In line, we chat with the person next to us. At night, we chat with family members and friends about our day. We tell stories, swap anecdotes, banter lightly back and forth about the “news” and the “newsworthy.”

Chatting, while it is not the in-depth, intense conversation that is so necessary to freedom of thought, matters. It transitions total strangers into acquaintances, and from acquaintances, we can become friends. Even if our conversation never progresses beyond the light and easy, that’s okay. Each friendly social interaction is a reminder that we share more than we think. In a society that is regularly polarized by politics and mass media, that’s important.

Family, Friends, Acquaintances — We Chat

Monica Stobie’s artwork Quail Talk, invites us to step into the world of chatting. Here we have a family — little ones, big ones, aunts and uncles and moms and dads — poking about their day and keeping up a cheep of communication. It’s a friendly, gregarious moment, an interaction that adds pleasure to the day.

Chatting is delightful. Let’s keep doing it.

Stay Chatting — It Mitigates Polarization

Wenaha GalleryThe featured image to this article is Quail Talk by Monica Stobie. You may purchase the print online at this link. We would be absolutely delighted to frame the work for you, working online and by phone — something we have been doing successfully for many years with out out-of-town clients. Email us at Wenaha.com to start the conversation.

More works by Monica Stobie are at this link.

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Evening Companions harmonious dogs sleeping john weiss

Stay Harmonious: Evening Companions by John Weiss

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After a long day of being productive and busy, it’s comforting to be in company with those we love and trust. Evening Companions, fine art print by John Weiss.

People, and animals, who spend a lot of time together tend to achieve harmonious understanding in their relationship.

It’s not that they always agree. Indeed, if we all agreed, 100% of the time, on everything, that would be odd, not to say boring. It’s wise to be wary when we’re told that a particular view is one upon which everyone agrees. And anyone who doesn’t is dumb. Or subversive. Or dangerous. Or uneducated. Or just plain wrong.

This attitude of judgment is the total opposite of harmonious. It squelches intelligent dialogue and the ability to establish meaningful relationships.

Meaningful relationships, which are the best kind to have, require trust, respect, and the willingness to give and take as we share our thoughts and beliefs (which, remember, do not agree 100%) with one another. Such relationships take time, as well as maturity on the part of each member. They flourish in close and regular contact, with face to face communication being the best, and most private, way to interact. There’s a reason why loyalty runs in families.

Harmonious Together

The artwork, Evening Companions by John Weiss, shows two close companions at the end of the day — simply being comfortable with one another. They don’t look the same. They’re not the same color. One is larger than the other, but this does not mean that it dominates. It is highly likely that some time during the day, even multiple times, they will disagree, may even snap at one another. But the snapping cannot be too harsh or abrasive, because if it were, they would not be so close, so harmonious in their friendship.

When we take time to listen to one another respectfully, and then, if necessary, respectfully disagree, we make more friends than we do enemies.

Stay Harmonious with One Another

Wenaha GalleryThe featured image to this article is Evening Companions by John Weiss. You may purchase the print online at this link. We would be absolutely delighted to frame the work for you, working online and by phone — something we have been doing successfully for many years with out out-of-town clients. Email us at Wenaha.com to start the conversation.

More works by John Weiss are at this link.

If this post has encouraged you, please pass it on.