Monica, a member of the Collector Family who has inspired other blogs, went on a trip for a few weeks that became complicated by a lingering flu/cold type of illness. Thankfully, Monica is on the mend, but scrambling to catch up with the daily demands of contemporary life. She wrote to me saying,”…Oh, for some elusive balance in my life. Do you have balance, Judy Rey? I can't seem to find it these days. I'm so far off balance that I'm spending my time overcompensating in one area and then jumping to another, then another. Nothing serene. I shudder to think what the stress may be doing.”

So here's my reply:

Balanced? Who said life was supposed to be balanced?

Where is this in the Bible ? In either testament?

Think about it.

If being balanced means never stumbling or falling, or taking a chance that this could occur then one of the very best things to do would be to lie down on a flat part of land, probably in the dirt. Difficult to fall from there.

Being that this is the July Fourth weekend as I write this blog, which will actually be posted on the very day – before I head to our parade here in Southampton), let's acknowledge that the

Constitution of the USA sets up a system of governmental checks and balances – but that very process implies that government by, of and for the people will always be a balancing act. One that is in perpetual self-correction thanks to the three branches of government. The founding fathers anticipated the government's continual lack of balance and devised a system that would continue to deal with that.

I think that a perfectly balanced painting would be one that is on an absolutely square support (canvas, board or paper), with a line perfectly down the middle and one side black and the other white. Or, even, the two sides being complementary colors, such as red and green, purple and yellow or blue and orange. Two other perfectly balance ideas would be again the square but this time in quarters, alternating the same color groups, for instance, top left black, top right white, bottom left white and bottom left black...

One could also apply this to the complimentary color pairs described previously. Finally, there's the same idea with a line of the opposite color down the middle of the canvas, either one way dividing it in thirds or a across or both (thus, kind of equidistant cross, again using the color opposite pairs.

Phew! And does any of this seem really uplifting or interesting art? Oh, I could add to the growing exhibition of balance. We could add dots, like in the yin yang with a good dot or square in the midst of our forms again in the opposite color. It's really just a design exercise, the kind we did in art school, when learning about color and form.

Anyway, that's real balance. Wahoo!

The thing about it is it is all static. Even boring.

Balance in art has to do with movement and even rhythm. The shapes in a painting are varied n size, as are the colors and values, all of which contributes to a kind of balance that entices the eyes to move through and remain in the painting.

In art – and life, the quest is to create balance in movement, in change and growth.

Inherently, there's nothing seemingly serene about it. Growth or creativity is focused chaos. There are really great biblical stories that come to mind, such as Noah's ark, and the whole exodus from Egypt . It is easy for us to look back on these events and see the Plan, but for the human beings going through the process, it certainly must have seemed chaotic.

Except for one thing. If we know that we are following the Plan for us individually, even if it seems chaotic, then somehow there is also serenity in it.

The Genesis: Sunset-Sunrise painting series uses the texts of Genesis . I-II:7 as the main strokes. Since I've been working towards a show with that series over the past year, I have become very familiar with it. Yet, I continue to learn from the texts.

One of the many things described is vibration, which also includes separation or differentiation of one opposite from the other. God speaks (sound is vibration), “Let there be light.” So, next we perceive the deep because that's where there is no light. The contrast becomes clear.

The Lord God further separates them. Creation continues with God creating and separating. There are evenings and mornings, again opposites. In the overall, if one steps back and see the Plan, there appears to be a balance to all this creation and becoming and separating, but if one were only in the light or the deep, or the heavens above or below, or morning or evening, then any shred of meaning might be difficult to grasp. It might just seem out of balance and chaotic.

But in the texts, we take a step back and perceive more of the plan.

Paintings can seem chaotic. I am thinking about getting up close to Monet's brush strokes (blobs, as I have fondly written about them in another blog also on this site). Or van Gogh's drawings with the almost fevered, hurried dashes and dots, describing his images. Think of the flowing drips of a Pollock or the quick, sure brush strokes of Hals, which eloquently capture personality and likeness.

Great art, whether it is a in the form or an orchestra playing a symphony, a painting or a dramatic work (for instance, the Royal Shakespeare company in a production of a Midsummer Night's Dream ) seems to me to always be focused chaos, that progresses step by step until we perceive the steps as integral and meaningful parts of the whole. An inspired and meaningful plan.

I think life's like that. We can get caught up in the steps and lose perspective. Feel out of balance. That's ironic because, intrinsically, that is often part of the Plan, that feeling out of sorts and it goads is into finding or growing into our next step.

The folks who I am concerned about are the ones who say they feel in balance – their lives are in their control. They're satisfied. Sometimes I believe them and that concerns me even more.

Personally, I am focused on stumbling along as best I can in the Plan for me. My life is full of discovery, purpose, meaning, wonder and some chaos. Am I satisfied and in balance? No. There's always the next challenge, the next impossible sea to cross and the next lesson to learn. There's always the next painting to paint, blog to write, person to meet, etc. Oh, yeah, and I am way behind in filing!

Am I serene? Well, I assume that's comparable with peace, shalom, which passes all understanding. Then the answer is yes when I am stumbling along, out of balance but focused on the Plan despite any obstacles, inconveniences and problems. However, the answer becomes no when I am focused on the small stuff or the remnant of my ego or meeting other people's expectations for me or my expectations about how my life should be.

It's not that what is happening in my life radically changes, but my focus and perception of it does.

July 4, 2006