Through Other Eyes

Digital take on Escher. 

These days I'm seeing life around me through different sets of eyes. Through different dimensions, if you will. Perhaps it's due to the inevitable dimming of my physical eyesight due to aging and illness—as one sense decreases others increase—I don't know, but some new possibilities are opening up. New ways of seeing, perceiving, imagining...

I've always seen life through my musical eyes. Yes, eyes, although I hear music in everything. I have synesthesia and perceive colors associated with the different musical keys. Conversely, I hear music when I see different colors. G is always grass green (grass and citrus tree leaves are in the key of G major) and A major is always sky blue (the summer sky in California is in the key of A major), for instance. It's not easy to understand, but it's even harder to describe.

I also see life around me as a writer. There are plots, characters, and words everywhere. The tiniest thing can turn on the writer in me so I keep a journal handy to scribble notes into. As a writer I also hear the rhythm of words as people speak. There is a pulse, an ebb and flow, a rise and fall in speech. Of course, this might also partly be my musical ear having fun with me.

Now that I've become interested in watercolors, I see subjects everywhere, things that might be fun to paint. I used to have this eye when I was a teenager and I made portraits in pastels. I'm seriously thinking of getting a set and trying my hand at that again. It's funny how my failing eyesight actually helps me in this regard. Because I see the world around me a bit more impressionistically, I don't really notice, or care, if I paint outside the lines a bit. In fact, I love when the color flares beyond the lines (so far, I'm doing line and wash watercolors).

All this is pretty exciting for me. I may need two pairs of glasses to see my world physically, but all of my other eyes seem to be working overtime. In a small and funny way, I'm regaining some of the wonder and excitement, and sense of discovery, I lost somewhere. Maybe it's second childhood. Well, as I always say, it's never too late to have a happy one!