Narrowing Focus like a Thomas Cole Painting

This past week has me thinking a lot about taking one's time while working diligently, narrowing focus from big concepts into refined ideas, and how creative process and formal research are indistinguishable practices. I looked through my Adobe Lightroom library for a picture that expressed what I was thinking about and fished the below out of the photo sea.

This is a look down the Venetian Grand Canal. It makes me think of floating determinedly into the ideal, not-so distant future. And now that I'm looking so closely at it, it distinctly reminds me of Thomas Cole's Voyage of Life painting foursome that I saw in D.C. a few years back at the National Gallery of Art. This is one of my favorite American artists and works. Take a look at the Youth panel below.

Interestingly, Cole's Voyager is considered by some to be allegorical for America's journey as a fledgling nation during Manifest Destiny's industrial expansion. 'Interesting' because, it can be compared with my canal photo which was shot in a well industrialized, mature European country far out of its adolescence, and I'm using it in this blog's context to represent an aspect of my personal journey. Hmm...maybe a warning to expand my mind but not to take over everything? Lots of fun connections!

Grand Canal, McKenzieSheltonPhotography, 2016.

Voyage of Life, Youth, Thomas Cole, oil on canvas, 1842.
http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.52451.html

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