Art and finding Happiness

January 30, 2022 Comments Off on Art and finding Happiness Inspiration Like

Art and finding Happiness Plays Together

How can art find you happiness? Happiness are three parts, enjoyment, satisfaction and meaning. All three parts play a part in how art can bring you happiness.

The most important piece is “enjoyment”. Of course, we can look at this word and just say “I enjoy this piece of art, so I am happy”. But recently I have been looking at it a bit more deeply- In fact the question I keep asking myself is “why”. Why does this particular painting create more of a feeling of joy, or enjoyment?

Stories of Connection

There are two pieces to this; the connection to others, and pleasure. When creating the stories I create, at the root of the pieces is love. As in the piece “Springtime Love”, to love others is at the core of these visual stories. This may seem like a trite premise, maybe a bit over sentimental- but in reality every piece is the celebration of this concept. To be with others, to share in a moment, to tell the story of this sharing is at the core.

Layered over these stories, is fun. The ability to enjoy pleasure, or “how to have fun”, is part of every piece I create. This would mean going for bike ride, walking in the rain and singing, or being in the garden. Every moment to be connected to a moment of light and joy. Every moment shared with others or being mindful of its beauty. The satisfaction you feel when you realize that life is more than the routine. It is the being in the moment and being mindful.

Mindfulness is looking at life with an awareness. Absorbing the light, the sounds, and the colour of the moment. Revelling this this moment and feeling alive. If anything, looking at a piece of art that strives to bring happiness to the forefront is key.

Finding the Fun

If anything, these pieces reminds you that we should have balance in our life. Fun, or that moment of being satisfied that life is good, is a mindset we have to keep working at. It just doesn’t come. We need to stop, stare and look at it. To absorb the incredible moment. To dream about going on a trip, to share in a celebration with family and friends, to be in the simple moments of connection with your partner, your children, or being with yourself creating a piece of art. These are ways of being engaged with life. These are ways you can find your “fun”.

If anything, art and finding happiness, goes hand in hand.

To see the latest collection of my Happiness Series click here.

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Enjoy the Everyday Sounds of Life

December 5, 2018 Comments Off on Enjoy the Everyday Sounds of Life Inspiration Like

Sounds of everyday life on a rainy day. Three ladies walking with gold bubbles.

Sounds of everyday life can be taken for granted.

When my daughter was young, she would wake up everyday with a song. Singing in her childlike voice I would listen as I wake up and revel in this moment of happiness. Just to stop and listen. The other day I asked my 14 year old daughter if she still wakes up with a song in her head. Yes she said. There is always a tune in her head. She dances through her life. The sounds of everyday life permeate her world and she registers this moment.

In fact, when she was younger, she would dance after dinner. Everyday. At home and when we went out for dinner. I called it the Dinner and Show time which was an inspiration for a whole series of pieces that focused on dance. My daughter doesn’t dance after dinner anymore, because the music is still within her.

I don’t wake up with a song in my head. I wake up with a list of things to do. Not that this is a bad thing, but I have to remind myself to stop and enjoy life a bit more. Like my daughter.

Melody in Language can be Art

Recently I listened to an interview with the musician Meklit Hadero who finds melody in everyday language. The composing of music from language, repetition of sounds to make a song takes the everyday and makes it into art. But then that is the role of the artist- to highlight the taken for granted and elevate it. To walk into the ordinary and create a piece that makes you stop, listen and look.

Designing Joy into your Home

Most importantly, this concept of registering the beauty of everyday relates to the healing power of beauty. Our homes, our places of refuge, are the places that we retreat to and recharge. To ignore this place does not help you move forward in your life. In other words, it heals and gives you the strength to keep going. Yet the sounds of everyday life can take us into the pleasure of unnoticed.

Importance of the Circle

In the post by Ingrid Fetell who speaks to how joy can be designed into our surroundings, she speaks about how our homes and workplaces have to have a conscious awareness of healing and comfort. She highlights how the circle plays a major role in this design.

What does the circle do? How is it powerful? Many of my clients question my use of the circle and my repetition of this element in my work. I have always responded that I use circles as a way to elevate the feeling of the piece. However, this use goes much deeper. In fact, as Ingrid states,the circle has a psychological healing piece to it. It creates balance, a sense of wholeness and comfort. Sharp angles, rectangles and squares, have more of a sense of discomfort. Not surprising that this is the case. There really isn’t anything like polka dots.

Painting with Circles

In the highlighted painting titled Floating Fragrance, the use of circles is repeated in the structure of the piece. The end result is the sensation of these women walking on air. The repetition of the ladies, in a pop art style, gives a contemporary vision of a cityscape. Layers and the ephemeral light makes this piece full of life.

In conclusion, the goal is to look and listen at your world. Stop and look at a painting in your home. Listen to laughter and music and be aware of how it feels. Above all, register the joy that surrounds you daily!

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Choose to bring the Joy in your Life

October 5, 2018 Comments Off on Choose to bring the Joy in your Life Inspiration 1

Choosing the joy of the day by sitting in a cafe in paris on a cool day enjoying a moment of watching and revelling in the moment

It is Your Choice to be Happy

Choosing the joy in life can come in many ways. It can come from walking your dog in the morning as the sun comes up. It can come from just sitting at a cafe and enjoying the last few moments of warmth and sunshine before the winter descends upon us. It can come from having dinner with your partner after a tough day. Or similarly, it can come from going to the Theatre and absorbing a moment of beautiful classical music by the symphony. Most importantly, it can come from looking at beautiful piece of art in your home that impresses upon you the celebration of the moment. Art reminds us of the beauty- the moments that last briefly but can imprint upon our minds indefinitely.

Art reminds us of the Joy

Many who look at my work are engaged with the celebration of the Joy. This is due to the fact that people walk into my booth at an art fair and remark on the stories that I create as part of my work. Yet every story is about the positive. The looking toward the brightness of the day. The place you can walk into and revel in the colour, the patterns and the beauty. In the piece highlighted titled “She Walks on Pink Roses” a story is created about a cool day watching the world go by. The flowers are embedded in the figure and give the story a place of softness and comfort. A place to remind us to be in the moment and enjoy the day.

Counter the Negative

For a long time I thought that this type of work was too sentimental. That it had a shallowness that we see in our pop culture. Well I no longer feel this. In fact, I see my art as a counter point to the negative. We seem to now live in a culture full of the negative. Certainly there is an overwhelming amount of combative and the critical debate. Of course for social change to happen we need the critical. We need the empowered and the fearless to step forward. I am the first to support these actions. Yet what are the effects on our psyche? How do you insulate yourself from this?

Choose the Joy! I know this may sound trite. In fact, it is not. Most noteworthy, surrounding yourself, and engaging with art that is beautiful, makes us happier. In fact, studies have found “that looking at a work of art can actually have the same psychological effect as the euphoric experience of romantic love.” Now don’t we all want to feel that romantic high? Above all we want the sense that “joy” is part of our daily life. It may comes at less of an impact with a piece of art that you look at daily. Or it may remind you, when you least expect it, that life is good.

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