Texture can be a feast for the eyes as well as for the sense of touch.
At a Farmers’ Market this weekend, bright clumps of wool were encased in looped ivy branches. They hung overhead like oversized Christmas tree ornaments. Summer sun elided their edges to a dazzling white that was one with the sky.
In Modern English‘s “I Melt With You,” mesh and lace is the textural equivalent of the rainbow’s edge: all else in the world is but a veiled, decorative backdrop to the song’s human object:
“I saw the world thrashing all around your face
Never really knowing it was always mesh and lace”
On the opposite end of the textural spectrum is the Biblical anguish conjured by images of flesh bound with tenacious ivy and bristly twine.
Another kind of love song entirely.
The person who melted away in Modern English’s song–the singular stark human reality against a filmy lattice of a universe–seems to have departed before the beginning lyrics of Mumford & Sons’ “Below My Feet“:
“You were cold as the blood through your bones
And the light which led us from our chosen homes
Well I was lost
And now I sleep,
Sleep the hours that I can’t weep
When all I knew was steeped in blackened holes
Well I was lost . . . .
Just give me time
You know your desires and mine
So wrap my flesh in ivy and in twine
For I must be well….”
Even emotions can have their own textures. Fear is a cactus-like prickle. Apprehension can be found in the braille of a field of goosebumps. And love can have infinite textures, from the impossible smoothness of a newborn’s cheek to that liquid stone blue cold of blood through bones.
Love in the Spaces 
Stunning textural emotions post…..so evocative and powerful. I was left with a feeling of the texture of decay…
It’s only now that you mention it that I see my own decay theme. I think grief sneaks up, still, in unexpected ways.
Well said about emotions can have texture. Beautiful texture photos.
Thank you, Amy. Sometimes the photographic prompts leave me stymied. This time there was almost an overload of texture to contemplate.
A beautiful and incredibly thoughtful contribution to the subject. I especially how you used colour in your subjects to provide the “contrast” that brings out the texture …. Very beautiful indeed.
Your words do get me thinking as well, especially the image of you as a child touching the fabric.You’re right — texture is a kind of sense. It’s more than touch. As I played around with the notion in my head, I thought of texture as a way of creating “connection.” Without it, well, as Mumford and Sons say, “We are lost.”
Thank you, Dale. I like your thought of texture as adding to connection: it draws you in and engages you and provides another way to interact with the world even at those times one would rather crawl away and into a protective shell.
Very creative interpretation to this week’s challenge, Stephanie. You are so right that the whole concept of texture is not just for the eyes, but for all the other senses and our emotions too. Texture, a feast for the soul. I’m sure you could play around with that clump of wool for ages in your hands 🙂