Gleaning

"I do not seek; I find."      

 -- Pablo Picasso     

A few weeks ago, on a trip down the Big Sur coast with my friend Judy, I found an image of striped stockinged legs on the tank of a commode.  Since my camera is always with me, I took a picture of it.  This weekend it started calling me and wound up flirting with a piece of paper that came in the box of a plate I found at a flea market. I liked the Asian look of the paper.

As these unlikely pieces came together, it struck me that I am a gleaner ... someone who gathers up useful bits from the field after the harvesting.  There are many of us and we can be seen every weekend, scurrying around like ants gathering up bits and pieces from yard sales and flea markets, picking through the chaff of our commercial lives to find bits that might have just a little life left in them.

These two images ... one western, one eastern ... called to each other and merged together gracefully as if their union was meant to be.  I'm not sure what message they send but when I found the Picasso quote, it made me wonder if all art ... possibly all life ... really is an act of finding ... of gleaning the value from whatever comes our way.

About the image:  In the Garden