In discussing issues of visualizing spirituality, one of the things which comes to mind is the question of 'scenes', whether to have them as studies or to consider them as works in themselves... to me, this is a given, that scenes are means to ends and not ends of themselves..... if there is a strong interest in the visual, then there is internally to it a theming going on which needs be brought to consciousness, explored, and utilized to better place the composition in accordiance to that theme/titling... in many cases, this would entail a shifting to including other material which would aid in the theming, rather than the work as a stand-alone..... otherwise, there is then within the work an idea being expressed, an issue of importance being noted, which needs, as said, be brought to consciousness for better metaphorical extrapolation...

It is worth taking note that there is more to Aesthetics than just the utilitarian and the contemplative - and that there is more to Art than just the 'fine arts'....... there is, for instance, the decorative arts.... in the evolution of humanity, the first instance of the aesthetics of contemplation was with the realm of decorating - particularly one's own body, and particularly with simplicity of forms as noticed among the reality around the persons of that time, even if within the confines of, say, the evening hours when so much is in 'outline' form.... it was the first attempts at providing something just a bit more than mere utilitarian - something in which there was a specialness added - not so much in sense of ownershio, but as if of a greater valuing than if without..... it goes hand in hand with the increased sense of aesthetics involved with the making of whatever object at hand - a bowl, for instance, where the craftmanship has improved from the rudimentary to refined of form, and now added the decoration of enhancement.... to a degree, this can be said to have a sense of contemplation, if only in appreciation of the geometrics involved, but as these were not a seeking of likeness, there was nothing in the way of the sense of contemplation as is understood today.....

Decorative arts stand in between these major directions of utilitarian and contemplative in that there is an increasing of more than mere utilitarian to the objects, yet not so much as seeking renewal in abstract contemplating as is found in the re-presentative works... it holds its place thru the design factoring, savoring the sense of beauty in forms and colorings, and the arrangements of such, as to increase the valuing, as said, of the objects on which these decoratings took place.... to some utilitarian works, as time went on - architecture, for instance - the aesthetics of design becomes overwhelming at times, far away more than needed for the mere utilitarian of the objects.... yet, even so, the field of endeavoring is that of utilitarian - high craftmanship, if one wishes to say... and if the designing is so far into that where the utilitarian is not practical, as in some fancy bowls with open holes so as to not hold liquids - stil, as per the concept of that object being a bowl, it falls into the utilitarian [and as such, a poor utilitarian, as its prime purpose has then been disrupted and/or distorted... [usually in a flawed attempt to imitate art and seek to be included in another field, even as there is little to any contemplativeness other than the decorativeness... remember, for contemplativeness, there must be cognitive visuality - re-presentativeness - in order to see any grasping of theming.....

In engaging in this visualizing, in seeing, as it were, the world thru the eyes of 'theming', it must be remembered that in so doing, many visuals will come to mind without prompting, and it can - to those used to introspecting - be disconcerting not to be able to identify those aspects of the visual which the abstract theme/title brought forth..... but not to worry - this means that for the artist, as much as for the viewers, the act of contemplation is there - enough, for the moment, that there is a visualization for the theming, and, to that extent, can give forth some sense-of-life reasoning for thus..... remember, ALL WORKS OF ART HAVE THEMES, even if the theming is no more than the sense-of-life without further introspecting, and as such has no given theme/title even [as is so oft the case with most artists]...

Seeing the world thru the eyes of theming - seeing metaphoric relationships among all that comes before the artist's viewing, whether thru the eyes, or thru written or heard words, or even thru hearing, whether the sounds of, say, birds or music - is a learning, an automatizing of the skill of integrating the abstract with the concretes..... in so doing, after a time, it becomes the same as if with walking - no conscious thought given to it....

If postulating a rational universe - that is, of one as which is the real - becomes the norn, and the showing of the possibilities as the proper mode of thought regarding presentations, what is, then, the issue of deciding the importances of what is to presented.... that is, a grand landscape of the projected world as desired to be in, or a still life of a minutae within that world, or a presentation of alternatives according to diversed views of the nature of relationships - which to do.... and why.... here, the matter becomes more a case of where one's own focusing is in terms of interests, skills - and what is to the individual as artist considered of prominant importance... there is, to be sure, merit for any of the positions, as each reinforces the pro-humanity, enlarging on the 'showing' possibilities as envisioned by Rand.... as noted in the 'sister' site [www.visioneerwindows.blogspot.com/ ], there is a developing wealth of diversed applications - some are landscapes, some are still lifes, some are at first glance animal studies - and others are as becoming erotic presentations - all upholding the joy of flourishing as being human, yet not all in the same realm as of importance to the showing..... why is this - what is it which within the subconsciousness brings forth such differentnesses? a very good question, one which needs much thought and introspection to come to answering.... for now, suffice to say it was at least at first a means of expressing a showing in many otherwise overlooked examplings of the fundamentals of moral presentating.... and time of doing has some bearing as well, as with so many ideas coming forth, there is a need to decide how much is to be spent in doing presentings, and how much is needed in the complexities - especially of such as grand landscapes - if the fullness of the proposition is to be achieved.... the mind, to be sure, indeed needs itself a shifting in terms of dealing with complexities - and this allows for the trivial to be of worth doing, even as other more complex notions form into consciousness...like muscles, there is a stretching and there is a contracting - both needed to achieve maximum results on the long term...... as time goes on, tho, there will inevitably be a shifting to some form of specialization, concentrating on select areas to further that arena - leaving the rest to others to enlarge as they would conceive....