SUNFLOWERS & SUMMER

Before anything else, let me express my concern for fellow bloggers based in the UK as well as my dear friends from University.  I hope you remain safe with property intact in this period of near-anarchy.

It feels superficial to issue a blog post after that.  But maybe we could do with a little sunshine and lingering moments of summer.  This post is about Sunflowers and how they carry a bit of both.

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A few days ago, I walked into Whole Foods and there they were, smiling and bobbing at me.  "Will you, won't you join the dance?"*  the Sunflowers seemed to ask.  Is it just me or do you also see their eager faces framed by sunny bonnets?  Perhaps I'm reading too much Lewis Carroll.

I haven't fallen down the rabbit hole.  It's just that certain objects lend themselves naturally to anthropomorphism.  Truly!

I wanted to capture these sunflowers' essence before they faded.  (Since I took these photos a few days ago, they are now sadly drooping in the vase.)  It's the same feeling I have that summer is slipping by so quickly, and I want to savor every last ray of sunshine.

Sunflowers
Photo: The Foolish Aesthete

Sunflowers, for me, are also inextricably associated with Vincent Van Gogh.  Van Gogh must have found them cheerful, even in a half-wilted stage.  He painted sunflowers while eagerly anticipating the visit of his friend, Paul Gaugin.  He had such high hopes for establishing an artist colony then. Sadly, that visit turned out to be disastrous and led to his missing-ear phase.

"Two Cut Sunflowers"
Vincent Van Gogh
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Such a short, sad life, filled with brilliant images.  Fortunately for us, we still get to share in his visions through the paintings he left behind.  So long lives this, and this gives life to thee as Shakespeare declared in Sonnet #18.

I pause for a moment of self-reflection.  Curious!  This is what I look like?  Funny how a different looking glass can offer a distortion from the feedback we're accustomed to.

World events and these sunflowers are putting me in an introspective mood.   But I hope the Sunflowers' sunny faces spread a bit of cheer.

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Cover up: Urban Outfitters
Platforms: Report
Necklace: gift from sister
Photos: The Foolish Aesthete, except for Van Gogh painting

* from Lewis Carroll's "The Mock Turtle Song"