The Doors of Reflection
or
Bonsai, as a possible indicator of a persons conceived, pre-conceived, or ill-conceived perceptions.
After too many knee-bruising, back-straining hours in the garden I eventually forced my body to the back porch where I shed my tool belt and opened a fresh bottle of cabernet. I sat down, weary beyond belief. Perhaps I really am approaching eighty.
But, unable to sit and relax for more than twenty-four seconds (I’ve timed it, several times) I decided to trim/clean/evaluate the few bonsai plants I still have. (I lost most of them a few years ago in an unpredictable, unseasonal freeze and vowed never to stroll that path again.) But, habits, good or bad, don’t fade easily.
So, what about the bonsai plants, and the doors of reflection?
As I sat, nipping a branch here; pinching a leaf tip there, my thoughts drifted to something I have thought about for many years. Not compulsively of course, but just one of the occasional random thought that worm their way, uninvited, into ones consciousness at odd moments when the world has nothing better to offer.
I’m not an artist, but have, over my lifetime, sketched a number of ‘portraits’ of friends and personal heroes. For the most part they eventually resembled no one I would recognize. All became generic characters despite my effort. But, that is irrelevant. The thing I did notice about all of them was that I drew them either face-on, or with their heads facing to the left. Not one among them ever faced to the right,
Why? I questioned. Is it the result of being right handed? Do left-handed artists sketch, paint, render their human, or animal subjects facing right? Or is it purely happenstance?
Or, is my conception pre-conceived, ill-conceived? Perhaps there is no pattern to be determined. All is arbitrary.
When I find a morsel of undigested time I might go through my art library, especially the various auction catalogues which condense a lot of art over the centuries into a manageable form, and see, as regards portraits, which profile is most common.
Then, as a follow up, try to determine which artists were considered left or right handed and compare the results.
All my bonsai plants are pruned with a left leaning inclination.
Off to look at catalogues.
