Life is Art...

Sitting down and putting together a blog post has been exceptionally difficult for me lately and I can't quite put my finger on why because the boys are still being boys, the wiener dogs are still being wiener dogs and I still have a million thoughts running through my mind at any given time.  


Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I've still been making over furniture like a mad woman with a paint brush and a piece of sandpaper in hand or maybe it's simply because I have become too hard on myself.  I'll think of writing something and then I'm all, "no, you don't want to write about that...that's boring! Who would want to read that?"


I really must learn to silence that inner critic.  Easier said than done, right?


Devin is taking an art class as an elective this year in his first year of middle school (which by the way, is going very well so far, thank the good Lord!) and I could not be more pleased with his choice because he has never shown much interest in anything much other than sports and video games.


I  always wanted to be a good artist when I was younger but back then I simply defined an "artist" as someone who could draw well and as much time and effort as I put into it, it just never came easy for me so I eventually gave up trying.  Instead I focused on other things, like learning to play clarinet, twirl a flag, apply my makeup, accessorize with the best of them, or style my big ol' 80's hairdo to perfection.  


Yet I never saw those things as art.  I never saw my ability to put together cute little outfits or my ability to pick up on reading music and learning to play an instrument with ease as art.  I couldn't draw worth a flip so I wasn't an artist.  


But lately, I am beginning to see and understand that the definition of  "artist" is made up of so much more...


I shared the following words that I found at pinterest in my post on Monday...
I


I believe everything in life is art. What you do. How you dress. The way you love someone, and how you talk. Your smile and your personality.  What you believe in, and all your dreams. The way you drink your tea. How you decorate your home. Or party. Your grocery list. The food you make. How your writing looks. And the way you feel.  Life is art. 



I have no idea who those words belong to but when I first read them, I had sort of an Aha moment because there is so much truth in them.  Whatever you do that makes you feel the best...the most alive, whether it be working in your garden, teaching, taking pictures, cooking, writing, or painting a piece of furniture, is most likely coming from the artist within your soul and is one of your true gifts from God.  


So please, by all means, do more of that because (from the brilliant words of Howard Thurman) "what the world needs is people who have come alive"...

Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.  ~Amy Lowell