Welcome to my inaugral blogging adventure. When the idea of a blog was presented to me, I was immediately excited because I love writing, I love exploring new thoughts and ideas, and I love art. However, as the date for my first blog post approached, I experienced trepidation. Oh my goodness…who is going to be interested in what I have to say and what gives me the right to talk about the world of art?
I then reviewed the work I did preparing this website and I recalled the excitement I had in being able to share my art and my joy of creating. I read over the quotes I chose for the various pages of my website:
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” Pablo Picasso
“A picture is a poem without words.” Horace
“Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it.” Robert Motherwell
“There is nothing more totally artistic than to love people.” Vincent Van Gogh
“Of course, it’s happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?” Dumbledore/JK Rowling
“Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.” George Bernard Shaw
And I remembered researching hundreds of my favourite artistic and literary experts to find just the right quotes. These six quotes really do represent me and how I view our artistic world. I believe everyone is artistic. We only need to look at children or to consider our childhood days to know this is true. As children we did not criticize nor judge and we found beauty in simple things. I believe we need art…all forms: visual, musical, literary, and dramatic. Not only do we need to escape some of the cruelty of reality, but art provides cultural meaning, history, and context. I believe we should embrace our creativity and challenge the myth that we are not artistic. And finally, I believe in giving: charitably and in giving of ourselves. Creating music, lyrics, poetry, books, paintings, sculptures, photography, dance, and drama is a way to share oneself with the world. Over the weeks, I’ll comment on some of these themes, talk about art, tips and techniques, comment on other artforms, and I will talk about the Calgary and Canadian art scene, from my colourful little view of the world.
Enjoy…and take a leap. Do something creative this week. It will feel great!