{"id":153,"date":"2026-09-27T14:00:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T18:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ksfreeman.com\/musings\/?p=153"},"modified":"2026-09-27T16:36:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T20:36:34","slug":"we-are-lived-by-powers-we-pretend-to-understand-w-h-auden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ksfreeman.com\/musings\/2026\/09\/27\/we-are-lived-by-powers-we-pretend-to-understand-w-h-auden\/","title":{"rendered":"We Are Lived by Powers We Pretend to Understand -W.H. Auden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In the Pines<\/em><\/strong>, oil on canvas panel, 10″ x 9″<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At first I painted\u2014in the bathtub, maybe I was two or younger. My sister had not been born. My mother gave me a tray of finger paint. Delight swelled within me and I was suddenly non-verbal. I was also euphoric. As I splashed the paint on the tiled wall, images appeared, it was so sudden and natural. I couldn’t contain my exuberance and after enough time, thought by mother, she grabbed me under my arms and hoisted me out of the tub, onto my feet. To no avail, I tried to resist and resume my first delve into creativity but it was stopped\u2014until my next bath. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have never stopped loving paint and the action required to manipulate its potential. Though I often acquiesce to its stand alone beauty, yes, I am happy to submit myself in veneration with no action. Often, my palette provides visual awe, as does a walk among the trees and I realize the gift of vision is my greatest enabler. When I allow my eyes to wander, as a free spirit, the magnificence before me dazzles me into inspiration. I have found over the years, there is no way I can convey my love, awe and admiration for what lies before me in nature. But I have found submission to nature draws me closer and as I calm myself, my inspiration leads me with hope that I can express some aspect of the beauty of being alive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t understand any of this. It is not rational and I practice going to a place of the unknown and digging for the pleasure of digging and the prospect of what I might find. And even when nothing is revealed, the beauty of the dig is my reward. My gratitude is endless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kevin Freeman\u2014I think this was taken around the time I was introduced to paint<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At first I painted\u2014in the bathtub, maybe I was two or younger. My sister had not been born. My mother gave me a tray of finger paint. Delight swelled within me and I was suddenly non-verbal. I was also euphoric. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22,18],"tags":[5,21,10],"class_list":["post-153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oil-painting","category-plein-air","tag-art","tag-maine-artist","tag-oil-painting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/ksfreeman.com\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/studio.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ksfreeman.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ksfreeman.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ksfreeman.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ksfreeman.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ksfreeman.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/ksfreeman.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161,"href":"http:\/\/ksfreeman.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions\/161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ksfreeman.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ksfreeman.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ksfreeman.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ksfreeman.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}