Through the years I have slowly come to understand the above quote. You might wonder how a tight muscle in my butt led me to draw this house...let me tell you the story. About three years ago I developed a very uncomfortable tight muscle that prevented me from taking my usual long walks around my neighborhood. I would walk for a few days; my muscle would become terribly tight, and I would have to rest it for a week. And then the pattern would repeat. I tried countless remedies...acupuncture, chiropractor, dry needling, orthopedist, x-rays, etc. Some of those things provided varying degrees of relief. Two times during those years we went to the beach and my symptoms went away. I wasn't sure how the two were connected. But to make a long story short, this spring I finally figured out that if I walk on flat surfaces my tight muscle goes away!
What that means practically for me is that I can't walk in my hilly neighborhood. So this spring at the start of the pandemic, I began driving to flat Norwood to take my walks. At first I wasn't that excited to have to drive over there just to walk. But who knew that behind the strip mall façade there were gleaming-white, giant marble buddhas, silent passageways under I-71, ancient trees, and the subject of today's post...magnificent architecture!
When I began my walks I found myself amazed at the variety of architectural styles. You can find houses built in the 1800s as well as sleek, modern homes...all tucked in together. I have a penchant for old homes and discovering new gems each week was great motivation for my walks. As the months have gone by, I kept having the thought that I should draw some of them... but other projects kept taking precedence. Finally this week I had a chance and I chose one of my favorite houses at the corner of Hudson and Floral.
The details in this house are stunning. I love the exposed rafter tails, the fish-scale siding, the circular porch with its adorable red roof, the ornate spindles, the alternating colors of the window arch, the sideways brick ornamentation, the contrast in colors between the orange brick, the blue siding, and the red roofs, and the strangely-shaped bell tower! I don't know the correct architectural terms for all the awesome details...but it makes a girl swoon to imagine herself standing on the second-story porch waving to her friends while drinking a delicious lemonade.
So now you have the story of how a tight butt muscle led me to discovering and sketching one of Norwood's finest gems. It seems that in every action I take, life keeps showing me how I can find joy in sorrow, pleasure in difficulty, and good fortune in what appears to be bad fortune. Somehow, knowing this helps lessen the fear, calm the senses, and reassure the one who is afraid of the dark. It seems we need both extremes in this world...the opposites define each other and herein lies the play of life.
Put dark against dark - you have nothing.
It's the contrast of light and dark that each give the other one meaning.
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