The Gift of Seeing Our World Through Another's Eyes

You're Too Old to Spend the Rest of Your Life on the Couch: Let's Adventure!

My pupper Mika through Sonja’s eyes

What happens when a true artist views your world

Sonja has been a lot of things in her lovely life but above all, she’s an artist. Two days ago we were at the Freed Gallery in Lincoln City and I introduced her as such, but she batted away the compliment, as she typically does, arguing that she isn’t any more.

I beg to differ.

First, over the nearly forty years I’ve known her, Sonja has designed my business cards and done a superb job of graphic and fashion art illustration.

She has one of the finest eyes for fashion I know, combining years and years of work in the industry with an uncanny understanding of details such as what earring works with this color/texture. She has the kind of deep, in-depth understanding of fashion that when she has taken on the job of de-cluttering people’s closets, she transforms their understanding of how their bodies look.

She’s an artist all right.

Some years ago as I was letting go of vast collections of nice-clothing-I-never-wore (bet you can relate, some of you), she helped me with the last of the orphans. I had a few designer pieces I just couldn’t get matched with anything, and she took that on in exchange for my word skills with her website.

Orphans drive us nuts. They are great on their own but most of us can’t find a damned thing to go with them, meaning that they live their expensive lives in our closets, unworn.

I’m the one who got the better deal. Watching and listening to her work as she stared at a particularly problematic skirt was like watching Rembrandt decide where to begin a painting.

So when Sonja came to visit me for the second time in the four years I’ve been here, I couldn’t wait to see how she would use her artistic skills to frame where I live, and what makes up my home these days.

The first time she was here I took her to see the sand paintings on Ocean Beach, where fresh water rivulets constantly carve multicolored paintings in motion. She braved the rocks (she is NOT an outdoor girl) to capture the texture of the Coast for collages. I had never seen my world that way.

And while I live here, and visit the Coast often, the way she frames what she sees and captures its essence allows me to not only appreciate her skill, but also to see my world with even greater appreciation.

Here are a few examples, the above close-up of my doggo included:

We were besotted with our cool, blue day as September slipped to an end and we entered true fall. The mists lay on all the surfaces of the coast for miles to the south, but by the time we’d had coffee and headed north to Yaquina Beach, the sun was beginning to explore everything with vigor.

Sonja does for me with her artist’s eye what I sincerely hope to do with my words. When someone gives me a terrific quote and I re-stack it, what I am hoping to do is give that wisdom the shine it deserves. My artist’s eye is the written and spoken word. Through that skill I love to elevate what others say so that more people can enjoy and learn from observations and wisdom.

Most of us have no clue how wise we are. Those of you fellow Substack writers, when you elevate other’s articles and comments, especially the way that gentle and considerate

Amy Brown

so consistently does, you give this same gift. It’s the great gift of seeing people, their value, their wisdom and their treasures in the world.

How does your world look through other’s eyes? Mine is lovely. Like my friend Sonja.

My friend Sonja at play

I hope you have a gorgeous early fall day today and I hope your friends see beauty in your world. If you were inspired by this please consider

If someone you know might appreciate this article please also