Happy Trees

Art, without it you would have no earth. Art makes the world go round. Every child is an artist, the problem is how to remain an artist when they grow up. 

So many quotes about art, about how amazing art is, how art is a release, etc.  One of my favorite quotes about art is "Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. - Thomas Merton."  For me, this quote is so true.  In creating something artistic, whether it be a painting, a piece of jewelry or even a blanket (yes, I am still attempting to crochet but right now it looks more like a large washcloth), the creator is able to put a piece of themselves into the art.  They are expressing how they feel in their work and for every piece of work, their are feelings.  When someone looks at my work, I do not care if they like it or not. I did not make it for them to like it, I make my works for them to feel something.  If they feel, my work is done.

Take the most famous painting of all time, The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.  This piece of work has been viewed and discussed over the centuries.  Is she smiling?  Is she smirking?  Was this a painting of a lady, Lisa del Giocondo, who it is said was the subject as this piece was commissioned for her husband, or was it a combination of many people merged together in the mnd and brush of the artist.  This is one of many discussions over this painting over the years.  As good art should, it provoked discussion, thought, and feelings.

Even Mother Nature gets involved in the arts.  Take sunrise and sunset for example.  Every day a new canvas is painted in our skys.  Each one is different and each one makes the viewers feel something.  Now you can call it Gods work or Mother Nature or something else, I'm not going to debate that here but if you choose to view it and feel something, you have experienced art.  If you take a photo of it to capture or share, you have taken part in creating something artistic.  Now I am positive I just sent some snooty artists into a frenzy by that last statement, even I have been told I am not an artist because I have not been properly 'schooled', have not paid for classes being taught by snooty artists so I cannot call myself an artist but I do.  I am not a snooty artist. I feel everyone can create art and those who choose to look down their noses at others just because they did not pay for years of stuffy classroom teachings to learn the proper techniques are just snooty artists jealous of those who didn't need the classroom but I digress.  

I will leave you with one thought.  Take time to stop and see the art in your world.  Take time to create something that makes you hapy or feel something.  Share with the world the art within you and feel the release.  Art is everywhere.  Enjoy it.