Your talent is a gift, nuture it and be grateful

In honor of the season and Christmas day around the corner; I want to talk about gifts.  Mainly, the gift of doing art.  For what ever reason, the arts are something that we as creatures do to make our selves happy.  Be it music, dance, writing, sculpting, painting or even building and growing; we find a sense of center in concentrating on doing these simple things that in the end, don't seem to be huge events.  They make a difference in our sense of peace and also help those around us.  

I don't just do pastel paintings, I assemble gardens.  Not vegitable gardens, flowers.... big small, roses, perenials and annuals.  I love to decorate my living space with them.  My neighbor across the street used to say, "I only grow things that we can eat, I don't see the point in the others." I convinced him otherwise.  Beauty in creating feeds the soul and he has lovely flowers now as well.  My art doesn't teach, won't sway the puplic opinion but it does help me feel calm.  Others find the same thing in my art.  They find my art calming.  My neighbors love my gardens as well, it doesn't solve peoples problems but perhaps, gives them the calm they need to find their way to a solution.

I feel that as artists, we give the world a sense of center.  As long as we still create art, nothing can be as awful as it seems.  Without art, we are only surviving and survival isn't life.  Our message to the world when we create art is this, "There will be a better tomorrow because we are still creating today."  Take the time to enjoy your gift of talent.  Don't feel guilty about taking the time to create anything, you are adding to the sense of balance and "rightness" to the world.  It is the way we share the burden of day to day life and help the world live to see the sunrise in the morning.

Remember, Son rise is God's Promise.