Community
by Joyce Johnson
Montana SASS for short. You may quote me. No day is all that bad, snow or no snow, here in the Rockies during a real winter... when you have a sunrise like this one to watch on the way to work, or like Colleen Singer of Treatment Court did: seen from north of Livingston, she pulled over to capture it excellently with her phone. Worthy of a column by itself I think, and so be it. Many of us saw that sky or some like it lately, from different points of view, masterpieces of art that only last a few moments. Colleen’s capture—it was painted with gold, orange, indigo and snow light blues, and creamy sky white; dark and light-balanced; harmoniously “placed” shapes and forms. All elements presented in balance. All that you ask? Yes. I learned in art appreciation class to look for those qualities… after first just feeling the soul of a painting. But this picture was a classical painting in the sky. A perfect composition and well framed in the viewer. Colleen Singer gets the SASS prize this week. I dare y’all to do that double-take, pull over, or step outside, and do some sky catching.
Other art appreciator-readers will nod at the image I think. Those who have also fallen in love with Montana sunrise/sunsets, when colors glow briefly with the last or first appearance or splash of light, like a cresting wave halts for a second at peak before breaking. Colleen’s sky lit up the entire landscape with a glowing peach/gold that turned the snowy landscape below magically pink for a few minutes, and best not to blink as the curtain falls and it all fades to darkness fast.
So I share Ma Nature in this week’s peek at one of her gorgeous, free, sky performances and hope you pause a second and “get it”—that Nature is a living, growing cosmic painting. A perfect (showoffy) glimpse of the reflection and art of Creation. We live in the Artist’s Masterpiece—not an accident! Stop and look at our sun shows please: our daily beginnings and endings. Applaud, and let gratitude in. I know many of you step outside in awe and “feel” the colors and get stinging eyes sometimes like me. Kids do too, and say, “Wow, looka that!,” or just stare with mouth open. Or someone yells, “Close the dang door, I’m freezing.” I chuckle. These days, that too, is real medicine.