Texture

I like the natural elements that abstract into light, texture, shape and shadow.

Herb Ritts

Today seemed to be about texture. Texture has a lot of possibility for definition. The one I really liked beyond the obvious of tactile sensation (more about this in a minute) is that texture is the "essential quality of something". This seems to have a compact Zen outlook. So maybe a good combined definition is "the feel or shape of a substance or surface that leads one to its essential quality".

We had a party for staff birthdays for the month of August. One of our staff had carved this incredible bowl and the bowl was cradled in a tripod of interlocking wood. He had looked at a pine stump in his yard and went to work to produce it. The bowl was full of white peaches from trees in his yard. A couple of peaches had leaves still attached. The immediate draw for me was the texture...the silken smoothness of the wood contrasting with the soft velvet of the peach was irresistible. I had to stroke and touch....

That carried over to a time spent with someone this evening. Smooth, moist, hard, soft, liquid, heat, all of this throughout the time we were together. Being present to the being of another leads to the essential quality of connection.

Is it any wonder I love texture.

Catherine Wheel, "Texture":