There she weaves by night and day A magic web with colours gay. She has heard a whisper say, A curse is on her if she stay To look down to Camelot. She knows not what the curse may be, And so she weaveth steadily, And little other care hath she, The Lady of Shalott. ~The Lady of Shallot, Alfred Lord Tennyson
The poem Lady of Shallot has been my favorite since I was a child. I felt so sorry for the Faery who had to live a shadowed life, mirrored, skewed, and not her own. I feel that being in a life that doesn’t fulfill you is the same thing. Living in the shadows, makes you yearn to step out into the sunlight and experience the richness all around you. However, shadow and light create depth. Lesson one from my old drawing Professor from College: “You cannot add depth to your pictures, Elif, until you can use the shadows to push your colors to the foreground.” Oh! I would battle with her, because I LOVED COLOR!! I would use darker versions of the same color in defiance, not black. Then came Lesson Two: “Turn it upside down and figure out your balance that way. There is not just one way of See-ing things, Elif. Sometimes our best work from from looking at it upside down. Only then can we see what needs to be fixed.”
Aaah Ms. DaVanzo! Who knew drawing studio would have such far reaching effects on how I look at things? As I move into Thanksgiving week and read everyone’s “gratitude’s” posted everywhere, it reminds me to remember and be thankful for the shadows and their lessons. Thinking back, revisiting the dark colors on my canvas brings an added vibrancy to my life now. The colors and richness my life holds now is worth all that I went through. I took a chance and risked stepping out of my shadow life a few years ago. I had no idea life could be so beautiful. I had applied Lesson one.
Lesson two weaves in and out regularly to keep me on my toes. Life get turned upside down when we least expect it and we are challenged to look at things from a different angle than we may be comfortable with. It is a constant reminder that we are always growing or helping other’s grow.
Finally, Lesson Three: Appreciate the beauty you created. Can you do that? Can you take a step back, view your woven tapestry, be proud, thankful, and appreciate all the colors that build and blend with each other?