hooray for david gray

the mellowness of all that is me takes much delight in the tunes of david gray. pick one - any song, in any moment - and it is suitable. i don't know how he does so much with so little... but he is a genius at being suitable for all of my earthly situations, moods, and ventures.

and while i am writing of genius...

tonight, i watched "Up" and at least half of all the special features included on the Blu-ray 4-disc set. can i just say... wow. the people that make Pixar all that we viewers know and love are my new heroes. Jeff and i were watching one documentary after another - the musical compositions behind each character's development, the filming and "idea" footage taken in South America, discarded storyboards and plot themes... we were both just staring at the screen, in awe. at these humans, and what they have created - their art, the poetry within it, the colors and structures and detail that add that unique poignancy that Pixar films seem to introduce to its viewers, the emotional tugs and pulls that insert hearts and purpose into cartoons and animation.

if you are an artist... seeing other artists do things "better" than you can be incredibly discouraging. i would love to say it is inspiring - but that's not how it often feels. it actually sometimes feels like you've kinda been punched in the stomach... by your medium of choice. i think those moments would be much more inspiring as they probably should be, if we truly grasped, deep down, that we are not all created to be the best... that may not be our purpose. in fact, it might often be the very worst thing for us, in the grand scheme of things. what we are called to be, as Christian artisans, is artists that seek to proclaim and express the beauty of Christ, through our craft, our art, to the best of our ability and for the purpose of doing what He makes us able to do... to let that pursuit be our passion, and not our art itself... or our skill at it.

let us not forget... we are clay.

a vessel has worth because of what it holds.

in the same way, art holds its worth because of what it expresses. what it evokes. what it beckons.

if something is truly beautiful - then it is truly beautiful.

it does not lose its beauty, its value, when something else beautiful comes into view. it remains as it has always been. it remains what it was created to be.

in light of all this, i do believe that there are some people, some true geniuses, that deserve some applause for the art they have created - no matter, that punched-in-the-stomach-feeling.

so... hooray for all you geniuses out there.

hooray for david gray.