What is beautiful?

What do you think?

I’ve never been a fan of conventional anything.  Conventional wisdom?  No thank you. Conventional beauty standards?  No way.  And especially not conventional wisdom on what makes anything or anyone beautiful.  No flippin’ way.

Yes, I recognize the beauty in what “everyone” thinks is beautiful.  I get it.  But it’s not what lights me up.

I prefer the unconventional.  The overlooked.  The hidden.  The forgotten.  The imperfect.  The tiniest of the tiny.

I delight in this beauty daily in my garden.  Here are two examples of what I marveled at this week. 

I love how magnolias look when they’ve “gone over” — the echo of the elegant, pure white bloom in the now golden petals.  Exquisitely poignant.

I love roses when they are just at the point of being blown apart by the wind, yet there they are, still hanging on to their glorious shape and heady fragrance.  Where I live, they’re regularly battered by wind, inches and inches of rain, and baked by intense heat — sometimes all in one day.  And yet they greet me every morning with their incredible, heartbreaking beauty.

Almost all the photos I take of my garden are close-ups — and extreme close-ups, at that.  I become utterly overwhelmed and a bit confused seeing a full shot of my garden.  I find it almost impossible to focus on anything, to really see anything at all.  Close-ups to the rescue!

I love details.  They light me up!  I super love the details of the details. The softness of rose petals.  How cupped petals perfectly catch raindrops or nestle sleeping bees.  Glowing, backlit petals send me right over the moon.

Beauty is everywhere — we only need to stop long enough to see it.  To really REALLY see it.  I invite you to take some time this week and see what you see.

I’d love to hear from you.  Please let me know what’s beautiful to you. What did you see today that knocked your socks off?

P.S.  Just as I finished writing this on my patio,  I saw the first hummingbird of the season!  What joy!  I’ll tell you about that next week. 

P.P.S. If you want to see how I use my passion for tiny details in my work, click here.