More than Art

 Art is more than just art. To me art is a visual journey.... A visual journal. It's a look inside the artist...their mental space, their journey of expression. It's a look into ourselves as the viewer.... identifying the parts of us that connect to one another. Art to me is spiritual practice. I know this because when I engage with art...it takes over. It brings me into a place of nothingness and everything. It's a surrendering of the mind (a thing we don't often do) and a conversation between body and spirit. 

                         

 A Journey of Remembering

My recent collection She Remembers was a slow process. Matter of fact my intention while painting each piece was not toward a collection. Rather each painting began to signify the beauty in the process of the moment. Words spilled from me with each work (sometimes along with tears). A story of remembering emerged. A remembrance of falling in love with creating. A remembrance of self before the shaping and molding of the external world. Painting She Remembers offered me the opportunity to embrace self-love by centering my process around the moment, and self-care by reframing even my mistakes as chance to begin again. 

       

                        

 

Teachings of a Rose

Can I tell you a secret? My studio is filled with dried florals. I love them! They are scattered on my worktable, hanging on the wall, corralled in vases. Working with them teaches me many things. Have you ever watched a rose dry? It's truly breathtaking! The rose remembers it is a rose.... even in its fragile dried state. The way it retains its refined sophistication, holds a lesson onto itself. It teaches me about authenticity and remaining in my energy. As easy as it sounds, these things can be the hardest to do. With so many outside influences and distractions, the world is constantly vying for your attention. Seeking to shape and mold you into something or someone you don't even know. Someone who is nothing like you. The rose teaches me to treasure those things that are beautifully and uniquely my own. 

   

      

Remembering Beauty

Is there a price to beauty? Take a look outside. Spring shows off its outstanding capability to offer us a renewed feeling of vitality. Nature invites us to participate in the conversation of beauty. We are not separate from nature and our homes should be no different. Most people think of beauty as a luxury. But beauty is essential to life. We care about it. I even go as far as to say that we crave it. Without beauty, in sight, sound, taste, touch, what is life really. What measure is there to appreciate our experience on this earth. Beauty is love. Beauty is a must.

I will leave you with this quote by Toni Morrison which says, "I think of beauty as an absolute necessity. I don't think it's a privilege or indulgence, it's not even a quest. I think it's almost like knowledge, which is to say, it's what we were born for."

xoxo,