I. Must. Art.

I love art.  All forms of it.  All mediums.  It is in my genes for my eye to naturally look for art in pretty much everything I see, and to create it in some form or fashion whenever I allow myself the free time to do so.  My primary medium has been music, but I have dabbled a teensy bit with other art mediums as well, i.e.: oil painting, water colors, sketch, dance, stained glass, etched glass, pottery, photography, poetry, fused glass and mosaic glass & tile work.  I have not come even close to mastering any of them, however, and for years I allowed the fact that I wasn’t “perfect” at them to inhibit me from trying to create art more frequently.  Even musically, the fact that I am not anywhere close to perfection by my own standards has quite often inhibited me from creating like I really want to.  Perfection and/or Mastery of an Art is definitely relative, and subject to each individual’s perception and opinion.  I am not actually even sure those things exist in art.  Beauty has always been in the eye of the beholder.  The older I get, the more I realize that I don’t need to be the very best at art or anything else for that matter in order to put my energy into creating it.  If the final product and even the very creative process itself makes me happy, fulfilled, inspired, etc; then that tells me that I cannot NOT create.

If I was only allowed to choose one word to describe my mother, it would be “creative”.  She is such a beautiful soul and an inspiration to me.  She is a professional artist.  She has owned her own art school for years now and has combined her background in teaching with her love of art to teach people of all ages how to create art themselves.  She is of retirement age now, but cannot seem to stop creating, not even for a day, so I doubt she will ever actually retire.  Art flows through her veins and is like oxygen to her.  I think she will be creating until the day that she dies.  I love this about her.  I love that she has passed on her love of art to me.  We have different “eyes”, so to speak, so our perspective on what is really good art is different from each other’s, but that is what makes art so special… the fact that it is up to interpretation by each and every individual. 

What is beautiful to some is not to others and that is more than ok.  The fact that each and every human being is so unique not just in how we view beauty but in multitudes of ways is yet another example of how creative our Creator was when he designed all the intricate parts of each of us.  It is mind bogglingly cool.  God is definitely the best Artist of all time.

I hiked up to one of my favorite spots on Memorial Day with some cousins of mine who were here from out of town.  We had the most amazing time.  Once we reached our destination, my breath was taken away by the beauty and serenity of it all.  The majestic view.  Nature.  Everywhere I looked, I saw God’s artistic handiwork, and I was in awe.  The lakes and valleys below… the trees and hills and mountains off in the distance… the sky and sounds and smells and how all of the colors played with and against each another in beautiful harmony… I just can never find the right words to express adequately the feelings a view like that inspires inside of me.  It was like a song, or like the most beautiful painting ever created by history’s most skilled and meticulous of Artists.  I thought, “How can anyone on the face of the earth be able to see all of this beauty and glorious art in nature and not become fully overwhelmed with the fact that God most certainly does exist?”  I cannot be standing on top of a mountain, or swimming in a lake, or wading in a stream, or walking in the woods, or gazing out at the ocean or even staring up at a cloud without seeing and feeling God.    He speaks to me in and through his artwork, which is probably why I love nature so much.

God has given me a love of art and a soul that seeks out beauty.  He has taught me that I do not have to be “perfect” at it, or at anything for that matter.  I just need to be, and to create, and to allow my heart of hearts to be expressed in some way, shape or form.  I somehow always connect with Him, my Maker, while I am doing so.  I love that.

I. Must. Art.

This is a picture I took on the hike referenced above on Monday, 5/26/14.