a garden tis / quietude / lose yourself in it / skimmer dragonfly (Epitheca princeps)

12-Spotted Skimmer dragonfly (Epitheca princeps), garden facing Hudson River, NYC. \| 2007.09.02 13:04:10
Camera: Canon PowerShot A620 \| Exp. bias: 0 EV \| Focal Length: 7.3mm (=35mm)
On Quietude » Lose Yourself In It The following citation on the art and spirituality of Japanese gardens by Audrey Yoshiko Seo, from How to Look at Japanese Art by Stephen Addiss (Abrams, 1996). "Experiencing Japanese gardens can be a challenge and delight, bringing together many aspects of looking at Japanese art as well as adding new perspectives. Like paintings and prints, Japanese gardens can be viewed from single standpoints as total compositions, expressing the specifics of the particular season, time of day, and weather condition. Yet like sculpture and ceramics, they can also be seen from different positions and angles, and they rely heavily on a juxtaposition of textures. And gardens not only reveal a respect for natural materials, as other Japanese arts do, but are composed of nature itself, lovingly reworked to seem somehow, even more natural. As organic art works which, in most cases, are actually walked through, gardens can surround and envelop the viewer in a total experience."