Could I be an artist?
In Grade 8, I was told by my teacher that I had no artistic ability whatsoever, and I believed her. Many people have told me they had similar experiences. Although I knew I had no special abilities to make art, after the teacher made her remarks in front of the rest of my classmates, I never made art again. Both my mother and my grandmother were gifted artists, and I knew I had a good eye for colour, but I had lost my natural and innocent joy and willingness to explore the world of artmaking.
When I began to study life coaching my general joie de vivre increased dramatically, and one day, I saw a piece of abstract art that I really loved, and had the sudden thought, “Maybe, I could make art like that too.” I asked a young coaching client of mine, who was an artist, if she could help me to give it a try. She accompanied me to an art supply store, and we bought a large canvas, some brushes and some acrylic paint. I set the large canvas up on an easel and began tentatively to apply paint onto the canvas. My young artist friend stood beside me, in kind and compassionate support. Some force took me over, and I began to paint feverishly, and at the same time to cry, laugh, and swear all at the same time! My friend seemed to understand, and was able to simply stay by my side while I painted the huge canvas to the place where I felt I was done. It felt like a huge release of grief, anger and creativity. Long story short, I painted 50 more canvases that year, and I had my first art show a year after that. I started going to the Haliburton School of the Arts each spring to take a course on acrylic abstracts. I felt like a new woman, as I had been freed from the lie that I was not an artist.
Here is the truth : ALL OF US ARE ARTISTS!!!
And at times like this in our lives, making art can be such a pleasure, a release, a comfort and a joy. There are many accessible ways to make art, ways that are not intimidating and give us pleasure and a sense of accomplishment and contentment quickly. In an earlier blog post, I described how to make a mini collage. My current favourite way to make art is to use watercolour crayons. The best example of these are Caran D’Ache water soluable wax pastels.(These can be found on Amazon.ca) They look like our childhood crayons, but when you dip them into water and apply them to paper, it looks like you have used watercolour paint. To be honest, I have never learned how to use actual watercolour paints, being content with dipping my watercolour crayons in water, and creating from there. I love making abstract pieces of art still. For the past 10 years, I have been mainly drawn to illustrating quotes that appeal to me. What I do is write the quote at the bottom of a piece of watercolour paper, and then leave it where I can see it. A moment of inspiration will come, and I feel like getting out my watercolour crayons and illustrating the quote. I feel so happy and contented as I do it!
Joseph Campbell said, “ Sacred space and sacred time and something joyous to do is all we need.” That’s how I feel about making art now!
Whether it be watercolour crayons, pen and ink, coloured pencils, regular crayons, or paint, I invite you to pull out what you have available around the house, and take some time in a quiet, favourite spot to make a little art. You don’t have to show it to anyone. You don’t have to ask yourself if it is ‘good art’ or not! You can simply enjoy the process of making it. Have fun!!!
