Art and Emotion

I wanted to contribute a little on the thought process behind my work - both conscious and unconscious. When I am creating pieces for a series like the one to the right (Word Birds), I am consciously choosing messages and images that are uplifting, inspiring and generally positive. I avoid including any message that might be perceived in a negative way. While this is a conscious choice, something quite different happens when I create a piece of art freely, allowing it to come from a place I cannot even name.

Recently, viewing the work of an artist I consider to be quite talented, I found myself both drawn to her work and bothered by it. As I gathered together the colourful components of my own creations the next day, it hit me - as beautiful as the pieces were, the emotion I was experiencing as I looked at them, was sadness. Now I cannot say whether the artist created them with that emotion at heart, and truthfully we draw from our own experiences even when looking at the creations of someone else. What I can say, is that this has brought to light something I already knew - that as much as I am a dreamer, and perhaps what some might call an optimist, like everyone, my life and my experiences contain the full range of emotions.

This brings me to the art I create in those moments when I allow those emotions to come to the surface. It doesn't happen very often. I guard the deepest parts of myself with care and yet, I believe that realizing a fear means needing to face it also. And so, in this very significant of months, representing my deepest loss, I will allow my truest emotions out onto the canvas. Whatever the outcome, I will share it here, in the hopes of understanding myself better.