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.

#65 - A Unicorn Blew Up on my Canvas

I was sitting down to paint, had all my color bottles ready and the canvas prepped with pretty white background paint.  I had put on several color drops already in preparation of making a beautiful feather when I picked up one of my bottles and a paper towels decided to hitch a ride on the bottom and fall onto my painting.  I tried to catch it but wasn't fast enough and it caused a rainbow on my canvas.  So...............this painting changed from a beautiful trio of feathers to an exciting unicorn explosion.  As Bob Ross would say it was a happy accident.
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When the unexpected happens in life, as in with art, we have to find the good side of it or it will cause mass havoc in our worlds.  Life is not perfect, but it is the only one you have so making the best of it, finding the silver lining on all the clouds is required for keeping your sanity through all the twists and changes that life throws. 

Maybe for me it is my coping mechanism but it works. I always try to find the positive in any situation.  It is not always easy but I do try.  Laughter is also another tool I use to keep the positive vibe going.  I believe that you have two choices to any situation, laugh or cry.  I would prefer to laugh because besides wrinkles and maybe a sore rib or two (depending on just how deeply you laugh) you don't have negative impacts from it.  OK, people might also think you are a little nuts, but who cares.  Crying makes your face puffy, your nose run, your make-up smear, and just drags you down.  So many positives to laughing. 

Another thing that helps me is getting my feelings out into some physical form.  Whether it be to paint, write, cook, or even just get out and go for a long walk, to me it helps.  I find it almost therapeutic to push my feelings out as far as possible. Sometimes I can then 'see' them instead of them hiding deep inside, doing damage in the hidden corners of my mind.  In bringing them to the surface, it allows me to address them and work through them so much easier which I believe to be much healthier way to deal.  It was not always like this. I used to bottle them up and hold them deep inside, not letting them out, hiding them from the world to portray a strong outer shell no one could penetrate. It was a defense mechanism I had from childhood.  Never let anyone see your weak points, must protect the underbelly so as not to be hurt.  It is not a good way to live but it was all I knew from my upbringing. 

Now so many years later, after having experienced so many horrific things in my life, I look back and realize that my protection, my defense mechanism was actually holding me back from truly living.  Once I really opened up my mind to all those nightmares of my past and allowed myself to remember and release them into the universe I was able to begin to grown and become who I am today. I am, by no means, done growing but I do have a healthier understanding of how those things built up a wall in me that I have begun chipping away at.  Brick by brick, stone by stone, the wall is coming down allowing my inner child, artist, mother, lover, and friend to emerge and grown into the person I know I can be.  This will not be a happy accident, but years of painstaking work to break down the barriers and jump the hurdles stopping me from truly living. 

So, off to see what my next canvas will hold.  Make sure to check back in to see my new happy accidents.

#64 - Reflections

As an artist and photographer, I take in a lot when I look at the world around me.  The colors, textures, depths, movement or lack of all play a part in creating a scene, a picture that will live on in my mind even if I don't capture it for others to see.  One thing I love about art and photography is it allows me to share what I see with others, to allow them to feel it too, even if they feel it differently than I did.  That is the beauty about art.  Each person is able to take away something different, to see it in a different way, to experience it and feel it in a way that is unique to them.

For example, let's talk about abstract art.  Many see abstract art as beautiful expressions of emotion yet others see them as odd and lacking.  There is no right or wrong way to see art, it is all in how the viewer sees it.  As a painter, I find myself torn between the two worlds of abstract and realism.  I love when I create a painting of something so life-like it looks more like a photo than a painting yet I also love being able to create something of beauty that has no reference in real life or is a representation of something I have felt or seen or the combination of both.  These feelings are what makes an abstract for me.  Being able to share that with others is exciting.  Even more than sharing, I love to hear their thoughts and feelings, their raw opinion when they do not know I am the artist or that I am listening.  If they 'feel' anything, my job as an artist is done.  That is what it means to me to be an artist.

Reflections are one of my absolute favorite things to photograph and paint.  I find that reflections show only a portion of what is really there.  Just as when you look in the mirror you only see what the mirror is able to show you.  You do not see what is behind, what is just off to the side, or what is inside, just the top layer in reverse.  What gives them mystery is in what you cannot see.  Even more appealing to me is when I purposely capture a reflection that most completely ignore like a simple reflection in a puddle of water.  That little thing that most overlook can hold such beauty.  Even a pothole, something we hate because it causes an unexpected jolt in our routine can hold beauty if you just take a moment to look.  Watch for the reflections of life and take hold of the beauty and keep it within.  It will open you up to so much more the world has to offer.  Remember, while it is only showing the surface, that is a great place to start to see what is beautiful inside.

Allow yourself to take in the beauty the world has to offer and use it to brighten up any moment.