This Magic Moment ...

It's been four weeks now. A whole month of singing the same lines of a song, over and over. And over. And over.

"... and theeeeeen it happeeeeened. It took me by surpriiiiiiise. I knew that you felt it tooooooo, by the look in your eyyyyyes. Sweeter than wiiiiiiiine. Softer than a summer's niiiiiiight. Everything I want I haaaaaave whenever I hold you tiiiiiight. This maaaagic momennnnnnnt ... "

This, in my world, is not unusual. Quite a normal kinda' thing for me, this getting a song stuck in my head for days. Typically, it doesn't last more than a week until something else takes it's place. A month, on the other hand, is extensive. Although, the record is the time I had the Looney Tunes theme song stuck in my noggin' for six months until I went to a friend's house (she had kids and a t.v.) one Saturday morning to watch cartoons, thus getting rid of the tune. That's the best way for me to rid the aforementioned noggin' of a stuck tune ... find a way to listen to the song and it vacates the brain. Noggin' then free to get a new tune fixation.

When one gets stuck for awhile, meaning more than a week, I start singing out loud at the oddest times or places, like the middle of the grocery store. Fortunately, I can most often refrain before I totally embarrass myself. Like the other evening when I was on the phone talking to my friend Kasey. We're chit-chatting along, then there was a short pause in the conversation. In those few brief seconds I almost burst into song, on the phone, in her ear. I had already taken the in-breath and opened my mouth, on the cusp of bustin' loose, when I caught myself. She already knows I'm weird so she probably wouldn't have cared. Might even have sung along with me. Good friends, ya' gotta' love 'em.

After lengthy song stuckages I begin to get a little irritated. I'm supposed to find the reason the song won't go away. I'm supposed to be "getting the point" of it. Obviously, I'm not always quick to comprehend in a reasonable time frame. Hence, four weeks of This Magic Moment. The Music Muse sometimes likes to play games, make me work for it. The realization I'm meant to deduce meaning from this particular song hit me yesterday evening while I was standing at the sink washing up the dinner dishes. A wet, soapy handed epiphany. Great. I just dropped the dishrag back in the water and said, "Okay Muse, what's your point?"

I waited.

The face of the love of my life came to mind. Brown hair, blue eyes, mustache, goatee, that slight little smile he'd get right before he'd kiss me. *sigh* What occurred to me was that I have been thinking of him a lot lately. Think blue eyes = sing song. To me, his face is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

Well, all right. Now what? What is the connection? Though kissing him was indeed magical, I intuitively knew that wasn't the right reason for the stuck song.

Ponder. Ponder. Ponder. Yeah, sometimes I'm really S L O W.

This morning I realized it's the feeling of Being In Love. Like the experiencing that deep, emotional connection to someone. But also, it's more than that, more than being in love. It's that feeling of opening your heart to the whole range of love types. In Love love. Family love. Best friend love. There is the love you have for your pet cat or dog. There's even love of your job and love of your car kinds of love. Expressed in different ways and levels, but love none the less. While I certainly do still love the love of my life I understand, in this particular instance, the Music Muse is only using him as a metaphor.

So, I ponder some more.

Love = Beauty. Ah!

What, besides his face, do I find such beauty in? Answer, art. It evokes within me feelings like the experience of love. And what have I been so busy doing lately? Yep, art. More specifically, my favorite kind of art. Art Nouveau in the Alphonse Mucha style.

Alphonse Mucha, entitled "Lierre" (Ivy), 1901

The two paintings I've currently got going in the studio for the secret art project are in le style Mucha. For [about a month now] I have been looking at stacks of books with art nouveau images, studying the technique and design structure, the colors, the patterns, the compositions as a whole. They are simply amazing. They strike a deep cord in me which no other style of art does. They are a delicate blending of fine art and graphic design ... how could that not appeal to me! They are intricate, almost rigidly executed yet have a beautiful rhythm and movement. I could wallpaper my house with Mucha art. I love it. I could eat it. Wrap my arms around it and not let go. The song in my head, This Magic Moment, started right about the time I decided to do these two paintings.

Conclusion: at long last, I'm finally creating my own art images in the very style I have had nearly a lifelong love affair with. Also I'm creating them in my favorite medium, watercolor. What has taken me so long? What have I been afraid of? Why have I held back? Why now? I'm not going to analyze those questions. I'm simply going to accept the fact that this is a type of art I'm meant to do. This is the kind of art that makes my heart sing ...

"This Magic Moment"

This magic moment
So different and so new
Was like any other
Until I met you
And then it happened
It took me by surprise
I knew that you felt it too
I could see it by the look in your eyes

Sweeter than wine
Softer than a summer's night
Everything I want, I have
Whenever I hold you tight

This magic moment,
While your lips are close to mine,
Will last forever,
Forever, 'til the end of time

So why won't you dance with me?
Why won't you dance with me?

This magic moment
So different and so new
Was like any other
Until I met you

And then it happened
It took me by surprise
I knew that you felt it too
I could see it by the look in your eyes

Sweeter than wine
Softer than a summer's night
Everything I want, I have
Whenever I hold you tight

Namaste y'all ...