Impasto is a technique of laying paint thickly so that it stands out from a surface. One of the participants of the Songs of Change project, Anne, introduced the idea when she responded to a prompt about textures. Participants were asked to list five textures that resonated with them from across their lives.

This song remembers the child we were, the young adult striving for independence and the idea that at each moment of growth, each flourishing, there is also a loss. And each life stage is embellished with some of the textures and smells and images that participants associated with being those ages. It is a celebration of all that we are, all that we know, and the wonderful people we have become.

See the child I once was born
My beautiful soft calf skin
Playing with her silky hair
Wrapped in cotton, silk, no sin

Watch me grow, the girl, the boy
Never ending laughter fun
Running through life’s luscious lair
Scent of foxglove, soap, and sun

Anne’s Words

Textures X 5
Cotton
Impasto
Linen
Skin
Water

That thought, the idea of layers, seemed really rich and together with another of Anne’s texts, a response to the idea of CHANGE, became the foundation of this song.

Change – a response

We change over a lifetime. The seven stages of man. Childhood, the task is to become independent. And you lose your childhood to become independent. You lose your youth to become an older person. There are losses. You lose people along the way. In retirement you lose your identity. As a useful person. A working person. The learning to let it go. The learning to let it be. I’m not trying to change anymore. I’m trying to strive less. Becoming who you are changes all the time and all of that is a richness, layer upon layer. You’re becoming every day. Never stop becoming.

We are but layers
Of all that’s gone before
So many little pieces
Woven into years
Look at me
Impasto

Pain, the ache, for life to start
Impatient, want it fast
Strain to break parental bonds
I taste freedom, here at last

Years go by, the losses come
Each flourishing has a cost
Gain new ground, slip, fall away
I am grieving, cold the frost

We are but layers
Of all that’s gone before
So many little pieces
Woven into years
Look at me
Impasto

Watch me now
Watch me now
Watch me now
Watch me now

I have found, by breathing in
Becoming, all I am
No need to strive, restful wind
See my richness, feel my calm

We are but layers
Of all that’s gone before
So many little pieces
Woven into years
Look at me
Look at me
Impasto