OPHELIA, OPHELIA, OPHELIA!

I am not sure what it is about this character, but I have been taking photographs of my friends and self-portrait of myself as "Ophelia" from Shakespeare's famous play "Hamlet" for many years now.  I never have thought that she is dead though.  Since I grew up the daughter of life guard parents who taught me how to swim before I could remember, I never really understood how she could drown from her heavy gowns.  I was always thinking, "Just stand up in that water!  Why didn't anyone teach you how to swim?!  Run away! That is one messed up situation!  Smack your brother out of it and run away together!".  Or, I thought that she was playing "dead" by floating in the water so she could sneak away like Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet", well we all know how that turned out.  Again, I was equally frustrated. 

The new "Ophelias" in and coming soon to my Etsy Shop Merle Pace Arts, from top left clockwise, Ophelia and the Roses, Ashore, At Waters Edge, Suspicions

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I suppose I am not a romantic.  Maybe once, but I would hope that now I am a girl who knows that when things start to get creepy and the years have taught me a few thing. 

I still have huge blind spots.  I have most definitely tried to understand a love in my life when things were going horribly down hill.  I have been stuck trying to understand and lost myself wanting the situation to work, wanting to find my "person" as he used to be-help him/save him when it just couldn't be done and I was being treated horribly.  So, there is that sadness and woe which I do understand.   

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If you are a Romantic, love Shakespeare's Plays, or choose to make up your scenarios, I hope these images make you feel something that moves you.   I must add that each time I go into the water for photographs, it is with great trouble and the water is always cold regardless of season or if I am inside or out.  And, on second thought,  I remember that these gowns were rather heavy and troublesome to move about the water in.  Swimmer or not, I think they could have pulled me down if I wasn't so stubborn to get my photographs!

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p.s. I think being used to throwing myself all over the place for photographs, doing a bit of yoga and have a little strength doesn't hurt either~

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I hope all is well with my Fellow Blogger Folks!

With loving kindness,

merle