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Description
Synesthesia: A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color.

........

As some of you may remember me mentioning in the past, if you're readers of my blog, I have actually experienced synesthesia in one form or another all my life. It's a phenomenon I rely on quite heavily when doing anything creative, and it is a condition that is quite common in artists, writers, and other creative individuals. It's literally the reason I always have so many ideas and rarely hit a wall during the creative process... at least when it comes to my personal pieces.

This is the first piece in what will be a series based on my personal synesthetic impressions of certain words that represent abstract concepts. As the title probably implies, this one is based on the word "loyalty". The following is an excerpt from one of my blog entries that will help walk you through the piece.

"I recently finished reading Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, which was probably one of the most beautifully written books from a language standpoint that I've ever read. By the end of the first paragraph, I could tell this man was a fellow synesthete. We have a very distinctive way of expressing ourselves that jumps right out at other synesthetes. When I got done with the book, I decided to look up some additional information on the book and on Nabokov, as I often like to do such things upon finishing a book or movie that I particularly enjoyed. I turned out that Nabokov was indeed a synesthete as I had thought, and that like me, his synesthesia is something he relied on quite a bit when it came to his creative expression.

Among other things, I remember reading a direct quote from him on how he interpreted the word "loyalty". He said that for him, the word loyalty invokes the image of a golden fork lying in the sun. I thought that was incredibly beautiful. I don't know that I personally get a golden fork from loyalty, but it does have a very warm, sunny feeling attached to it. However, to me, it smells yeasty and golden... like freshly baked bread that has been made with white flour. I feel that if you could hold loyalty in your hands and give it a squeeze, it would give way easily and be pliable and soft much like bread is. Thinking about it does make me feel lazy and innocent, as if I've been lying on the beach in a sunbeam of perfect temperature without any clothes on.

As you can see, I included a nod in the direction of Vladimir Nabokov with the inclusion of the golden fork. The rest of the objects included are all the things that personally come to mind when I think of "loyalty" or say the word.

Stock used to help create this piece comes from *mjranum-stock for the figure, sxc for the beach, and shutterstock for everything else, including the images used to piece together the sky.

Description
Synesthesia: A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color.

........

As some of you may remember me mentioning in the past, if you're readers of my blog, I have actually experienced synesthesia in one form or another all my life. It's a phenomenon I rely on quite heavily when doing anything creative, and it is a condition that is quite common in artists, writers, and other creative individuals. It's literally the reason I always have so many ideas and rarely hit a wall during the creative process... at least when it comes to my personal pieces.

This is the first piece in what will be a series based on my personal synesthetic impressions of certain words that represent abstract concepts. As the title probably implies, this one is based on the word "loyalty". The following is an excerpt from one of my blog entries that will help walk you through the piece.

"I recently finished reading Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, which was probably one of the most beautifully written books from a language standpoint that I've ever read. By the end of the first paragraph, I could tell this man was a fellow synesthete. We have a very distinctive way of expressing ourselves that jumps right out at other synesthetes. When I got done with the book, I decided to look up some additional information on the book and on Nabokov, as I often like to do such things upon finishing a book or movie that I particularly enjoyed. I turned out that Nabokov was indeed a synesthete as I had thought, and that like me, his synesthesia is something he relied on quite a bit when it came to his creative expression.

Among other things, I remember reading a direct quote from him on how he interpreted the word "loyalty". He said that for him, the word loyalty invokes the image of a golden fork lying in the sun. I thought that was incredibly beautiful. I don't know that I personally get a golden fork from loyalty, but it does have a very warm, sunny feeling attached to it. However, to me, it smells yeasty and golden... like freshly baked bread that has been made with white flour. I feel that if you could hold loyalty in your hands and give it a squeeze, it would give way easily and be pliable and soft much like bread is. Thinking about it does make me feel lazy and innocent, as if I've been lying on the beach in a sunbeam of perfect temperature without any clothes on.

As you can see, I included a nod in the direction of Vladimir Nabokov with the inclusion of the golden fork. The rest of the objects included are all the things that personally come to mind when I think of "loyalty" or say the word.

Stock used to help create this piece comes from *mjranum-stock for the figure, sxc for the beach, and shutterstock for everything else, including the images used to piece together the sky.