Nature's Textures

- a short romp through her seasonal splendor

All photos in this post are taken by the author - Matt J Zavadil

Such gratitude I have this day for having developed an eye for textures. For the past four years the seasons have blessed me with so many opportunities to bear witness to art being created on nature’s canvas. The only thing I have to do is put myself out there, be curious, and be present. Very present. To what’s all around me and to what’s happening within.

Art. What a beautiful, powerful form of expression! Not only given to us humans, but to nature itself. She boldly reveals herself to me, taking my breath away often, and exciting the little boy inside me who, upon showing up to explore, discovers a gift he could not have imagined. “Seek and ye shall find”, as he heard once, but dismissed as some kind of nonsense, only to find out just how true that statement is.

After these past few years of deep immersion in nature, I have adapted that statement to embody a more potent meaning for myself - “I find _____, because I seek_____”. It is specific in the naming of what it is I seek, such as “I find beauty, because I seek beauty”.

In the case of this entry that I share with you now, “I find nature’s textures, because I seek nature’s textures”. She never disappoints either. Her canvas is carved with her infinite multitudes of topography, reflections, colorful displays, shades and shapes, light and shadow. She bursts with such magnificence and I, I am not only deeply moved when standing in awe, I am changed. Re-wired, re-structured, re-born.

She cradles me in her calmness, offering a glimpse of the I that I’m becoming.

Her rivers pour through my veins, her creeks run down my cheeks.

Her forests splinter my thoughts into fragments of lesser meaning, providing passage to places ripe for discovery.

Her skies lift my eyes to take in the vast possibilities that peek through my clouded vision.

Her layered greens of summer fill up senses, and nurture my roots for continued growth.

Her frosty pathways of winter delight beckon me to take the risk needed to go down the road to discover if it’s the way.

Her displays of light mirror my attention to that which needs focus, if only for a time, and not at the cost of losing sight of the big picture.

Her trees let go of their fall beauty, painting it on the creek below. Her modeling of impermanence ripples in the afternoon light.

She wraps me in fantasy, impossible symphonies of beauty that echo deep with my soul. Art at it’s finest.