Play and Discovery

Red Onion – Peeling Layer 7

by Sheila Finkelstein on August 11, 2008

red onion day- peeling layer 7

Most of Layer 7 Peeled from the Larger Bulb

  red onion - peeling lay 7 from small bulb part

Surprisingly the Layer surrounding the smaller section is thicker than that around the larger. Do we more tightly protect the smaller, perhaps the more sensitive, components of ourselves?

  red onion layter 7 peeled from both segments of the onion

Both parts are still together. Per my fears expressed here yesterday, I find it interesting that it never occurred to me to trust that the basal structure (in onion language) would, in fact, keep the parts intact.  It was difficult to peel off the layers between the structures. Note the resulting bruising.

  red onion in dish with all the pieces peeled from layers 7

 The onion with all the pieces peeled away this seventh day. I love the way the smaller section, though apart, curves over and looks down on the larger part of itself.

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New Layer of Self Revealed – Onion Day 5

by Sheila Finkelstein on August 9, 2008

peeling away onion layer - day 5

To start peeling the layer on Day 5, the section I had started separating on Day 1 now opened up. The remaining piece that had held it to the onion was layer 5 and now it had to go. Reminds me of the rare times I allowed myself to feel that I was hanging on by a thin thread.

Top of onion separates from the rest

The separated inside of the top of the fifth layer also has layers within. I love the beauty of the inside of that start of the layer I will be peeling off. How complex and beautiful are the many parts of ourselves!

two sections of red onion now revealed

As I finished peeling layer 5 a whole new section of the onion was revealed!! – the two parts of it – the Ying? and Yang? – the Masculine and Feminine parts of ourselves? One larger than the other!  – Ponderings for the day.

On a final note – I do not like the background of the cloth here, especially in the night light. This week’s lesson in the Photoshop Elements 6 course I’m taking is “Isolating Parts of an Image.” What synchronicity! I’m thinking I’ll use one of these photos to put the onion in a more natural background.

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Peeling Away the Next Layer – Veggies Day 4

by Sheila Finkelstein on August 7, 2008

Peeling away at the onion - Day 3

Once again, I started in immediately with my knife to peel the next layer. When I saw how I was scraping the inner surface, I immediately switched to gently peeling away with my fingers.

I wonder, “Is this how I treat myself (and others), immediately cutting in? What will be available as I become more gentle with myself? ” How about if it’s simply – not always so simple – appreciating the unaltered beauty of what’s underneath?

How about you? How do you treat yourself? With a knife or with loving tenderness?

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Picture to Ponder – Peeling Away the Layers

by Sheila Finkelstein on August 6, 2008

Red onion #1 before being peeled

Starting to peel away the layers of red onion

Partially peeled red onion in a ceramic dish with the outer skin and firt layer

Today’s Picture to Ponder Photos
a Red Onion photographed at night, as it was when I brought it home from the store.

The middle and lower photographs are taken on the next day, as part of a project I started, observing the peeling of an onion as it relates to the peeling away the layers of ourselves.

In terms of aesthetics, I love the richness of the color in the top photo. In the middle photo, after the outer skin was peeled away, we are left with beautiful colors and shapes, contrasting lights and darks.

I’ve introduced the bottom photo to show the varieties of textures – thin and thick – that were in the outer layer(s).

Self-Reflecting Queries
I had planned to start using this blog for almost-daily postings of photos and thoughts and then after a conversation with a couple of mastermind buddies, we decided to take on doing a photo a day, with a different theme each week. Veggies became the first theme we choose. See Broccoli and Onions, Veggies Day 1 on the blog for further explanation and an invitation to join us in our play.

On  Veggies Day 2, you’ll read about my experience shopping for vegetables to photograph, studying colors, textures, and shapes.

Suddenly, while looking at the onion and observing a layer of skin starting to peel away, I remembered various times when professionals have said that one way to get in touch with ourselves is to start peeling away our layers to get inside. With that thought, I decided to concentrate on the onion as my photo for each day, for the next few days, at least. Naturally, I’ve been taking far more than one photo a day.

When I got to day 2 of the onion I immediately went directly to cutting into it to get at where I thought the beauty and intrigue would be, in the patterns of the slices. Halfway in I remembered, “Oh, my expressed intention was to peel away the layers of the onion.”

So I stopped cutting and started peeling, recognizing that this was so typical of patterns in my life. I usually simply jump in to whatever I am excited about, often not reading the instructions or getting more information that many times would have simplified things for me.

Once I started peeling, I became open to the beauties that were slowly being revealed. At the same time I noticed that some of the very, thin almost transparent sections of the very outer layer, did not want to let go and yet other sections of them, as showing in the top photo, were ready. You can get a measure of some of the thinness and thickness of the first layer – well I guess two, if we consider the very fine “skin” as the first layer.

So on to Queries for the day. I invite you to look at your own life and consider:

1 – Do you jump right in, or do you slowly peel away the levels of a project, to get at the heart of it? As you look at, and think about the onion analogy, are there any shifts, you might want to consider making?

2 – Do you usually have an intention when you start an activity? Do you have a method for keeping that present, a reminder system? If not, is there something you would like to set up?

3 – And, on a slightly different track, is there a playful practice that you’ve been meaning to do, something simple to which you might like to commit to doing on a daily basis for a week?

Lastly, I invite you to join us in taking a photo a day and I invite you to share your reactions on the blog, where this issue is also posted for your convenience.

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Red Onion 2 – Veggies Day 3

by Sheila Finkelstein on August 6, 2008

red onion and peeled skin in a dish

Onion, Skin and First Layer at End of Photo Shoot Day 2

This was a fun and insightful experience for me. Briefly – Anxious to get into where I anticipated the beauty of the onion to be – viewing the patterns in the slices – I went immediately with the knife and started cutting into the onion.

I stopped before I got halfway there and remembered, “Sheila, this is about peeling away the layers!” Oh, already I had forgotten my intention. I’ll plan to write more in-depth on this with other photos in Picture to Ponder. Watch for it later today.

Where are you in your veggies photo exploration?

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Red Onion – Veggies Day 2

by Sheila Finkelstein on August 5, 2008

red onion starting to peel in a pottery dish made by Sheila Finkelstein

Red Onion in a Ceramic Dish thrown by me years ago – on a pink tablecloth which, when looking at it in the downloaded photo became the pink “canvas” for this post.

Note – This photograph was taken at night with no flash, simply the light of the overhead chandelier. I will start giving a few “technical” details, simply to point out things we can be aware of. I have not had formal training, as such, and I’ve never taken a course in photography. I say this simply to make people comfortable using their cameras for play, discovery and experimentation, exercises in becoming more open and aware.

Speaking of play and discovery, shopping for vegetables to photograph this week became fun. In addition to my usual looking at their prices and making certain there are not bruises or rotten spots, I found myself studying the vegetables for their shapes, colors, and various patterns and textures on their surfaces. I smiled when I remembered having been dubbed, “Mrs. Texture,” by my fifth-graders in the elementary art school classes I taught years ago.

I smiled more as I watch two different young men reach into the bins and simply grab, without a second look, 2 of the vegetables they wanted. I thought, with curiosity, “Is that a man thing? Are there differences between men and women in the way they choose their fruits and vegetables?” No matter, I was on a different mission.

The “chore” of shopping for vegetables, because I committed to photographing one a day, had become an adventure. And as I studied the onions I was drawn to for their color, I began noticing the peeling skins. My mind went to my having heard suggestions in the past to peel away the layers, like in an onion, to get at what was disturbing me. So this week, for the fun of it, I will start peeling away this onion and continue to show photos of it here in the next days.

One of the onion photos will also become the featured photo in the next issue of Picture to Ponder. Watch for that here in the next day or two.

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