Art is My Passion

Paint Pony, 2012

Art is a passion of mine, I find myself out of sorts if I have been away from the studio too long.  When I go to the studio, I can close everything else out, I totally am lost in creating.  My life is art.

I have been painting again, it seems I go through phases of painting.  I have found winter and spring to be the time I do most of my paintings and the gourd work happens throughout the summer and fall. 

I have talked with another artist friend recently, we talked about our paintings and our feelings about them.  We are both "untrained" in the traditional sense.  What comes from our work is unexpected and an expression of ourselves.  It has little to do with the classroom instruction, more from what is inside us.  It is the way we see things.  Many times our art is a total surprise to even us, we don't always start the background of a canvas with a plan.  I find that interesting.....  it is something else that begins to form, to develop and evolve.  It comes from no plan in my brain, it is as much a surprise to me as finding out I could paint. 

Native American Flute

Maybe I can explain this in another way.  Music is also my passion, an art.   I play the Native American Flute.  I have no musical training, can't read music, have trouble with rhythm, and certainly can't carry a tune.  And yet, when I found that very first note on the humble wooden flute, my heart began to sing.  I'd found a way to express music that had been bottled up inside me and I played and played. 

Of course as with my paintings, my music wasn't always great.  Never the less it became the outlet for my heart and my spirit, all a journey in following our passion.  I have taken a few lessons from accomplished artists and flute players.  They have given me tools to enhance my skills.  The best part, they haven't tried to change my art, they have allowed me to express myself, good or bad. 

The joy in all of this is when others buy my paintings and tell me they feel the spirit in which it was created.  Or they ask me to play my flute, knowing the song is new and for only that moment in time.  Both coming from my heart, from my spirit, a breathe in time........... my passion is Art.