Henri Matisse a French artist. His work started out as traditional style paintings of still-life and landscapes. He shifted from there into sculpting. In the early 1900s he became involved with a group of artists who went in for wild dissonant colours rather than the subject’s natural colours.
The group didn’t last long but they made an impact on the style of Matisse’s work as his style continued to evolve. Matisse wasn’t afraid to try other styles of art work like gouaches coupes, a collage created with cut paper. He called it ‘painting with scissors’.
Matisse had some health challenges during his life. He was in a wheelchair following surgery when he started painting with scissors. I think for Matisse, flowers represented beauty if life as much as the flower itself.
When I first saw the quote I was thinking completely in terms of flowers. My thought was, well yeah there are a lot of flowers around but not always. Then I learned more about the artist and started to think of the flower as a symbol.
Most flowers represent light and beauty. A fullness of life when they are in bloom and before their life cycle sees them wilt and die off. For most people, flowers brighten their day. They speak of life and beauty. The glass being full.
Ever met someone who always sees the glass half empty rather than half full?
That would be the same person who could look at a field and notice all the weeds and completely miss the beautiful flowers swaying in the breeze.
Our frame of mine determines what we see in any scenario. We can see either the dark elements or the light elements. We can even see some of each
Finding the dark elements becomes a habit over time and blocks our view of the flowers in life which can bring us joy and a sense of discovery of the greatness of life.
Living life with a glass half full mindset is a depressing, energy sapping struggle. Finding the full glass, the flowers in full bloom as part of your mindset, leads to living with joy, energy and colour.
Life isn’t all flowers or all the half full glass. We live through times of the half full glass in the hope of finding the flowers and more water to fill the glass. To keep those flowers in full bloom as long as possible.
How’s your flowers today?
Shadowspub is a writer from Ontario, Canada. She writes on a variety of subjects as she pursues her passion for learning. She also writes on other platforms and enjoys creating books you use like journals, notebooks, coloring books etc.
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I think we need them both. The dark contrasts the light. I think I'm most appreciative of the light after having gone through a dark challenging time. Even though I have no wish to go through those dark moments, I can say they are quite clarifying.
Today my flowers are in full bloom. It's a Sunday morning and I'm taking a moment for myself by spending some time in Hive. Catching up after a busy week. There is no plan. No urgency. Just a Sunday meander where I am enjoying the flowers.
I remember, many moons ago, studying Matisse for an art project. I loved his vibrancy with colour and his experimentation with form.