The art of looking slowly: your golden ticket “through the looking glass” - La gazette #5.
‘The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.”
— Bertrand Russell or William Butler Yeats or Eden Phillpotts or unknown.
Hello friend,
This week, I brought you a special gift.
I want to introduce you to my ‘Slow Looking’ philosophy, a different way to see the world, and the best method I know to “look into a painting” (without recreational drugs or expensive incense cones).
Slow looking is a trick to shift your perception of the world to focus your attention on details, to step back and take on the big picture and zoom in again. Let’s get started.
=>Slow looking step-by-step:
Step 1: slow down.
- Children at school, pet outside, phone on “plane mode”. it is YOUR time, no compromise.
- Sit in your favourite chair in your favourite corner, your “happy place” in your house. (if you don’t have one of those yet, a quiet living room will do)
- At this point, you need a real painting to look into. I have got a beautiful late afternoon view from my kitchen window for you. It’s only a picture on a screen but it will do for today.
Orange hills Aronui. 2024 (paint and fine art oil pastels on board)
(alternatively, you can take yourself to the closest museum and find a pleasant painting there)
Step 2: you are doing it!
- What colours do you see?
- give them specific names. What do they remind you of?
- What shapes do you see?
- describe them, give them new names .
- Do you see lines?
- Describe them.
Step 3: come closer now, very close… (or zoom in on the screen)
- Can you spot at least 3 different textures?
- Describe them.
- How do they make you feel?
- Look at the painting from a different angle…
Step 4: take a step back, and zoom out.
- do you see the same landscape?
- Describe what has changed.
Advanced step 5: squint your eyes (eyes half closed, enough to loose the details of the painting but open enough to see big shapes)
- Can you spot the biggest darkest shape?
- Can you find the biggest lightest shape?
- where does they cross over?
- Can you find my favourite shape and colour? It is a small light bright shape trapped in a big dark one…
Step 5: reflect on your experience and repeat.
- Do you feel excitement?
- Can you feel the sparks in your brain, the joy in your heart?
Share your experience in the comment here [link to gazette page/blog and comment box]
Like every new skill, practice will make it perfect but once you get the hang of it, you will see what you didn’t know was there. You will realize how rich and vivid the world is and how much more there is to discover. Consequently, I promise that your well-being will level up.
Slow-looking is my favourite way to Leave the World Behind, enter the Flow and wander in a beautiful painting. In the studio, I have adopted this method to create my landscape paintings from this fresh perspective to make sure you get the most out of my work.
Give it a go today to discover the “magic things” I have hidden in my paintings for you: new feelings of Joy to lift your spirit and boost your day.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy this gazette.
Have a great week,
Warmly,
Marion V-W.
Now that you are high on slow looking, keep going… can you find which painting this detail texture picture belongs to?
Can't leave without this beautiful landscape? contact me here.
