Art and Soul

Amazon.com

I came across My Beautiful Life while purchasing a Mums Wreath Kit at Paper Source. Due to a long, and I mean long, flight I'll be taking pretty soon, I was thrilled to see this way of killing time creatively (I mean the book, not the wreath. I'd love to make the wreath on the trip, but my fellow passengers wouldn't be happy). 

The book gives simple little prompts at the bottom of each page to get you drawing, like "My PJ's," "The contents of my refrigerator," and "My favorite movie star." Those are just a few of the prompts at the very beginning of this lovely hardcover, since I had only skimmed a few pages before I knew that I was dying to take a whirl at it. I want to approach this with pen and ink and let the creativity go wild, even with the seemingly mundane questions. The refrigerator theme, for instance, would be fun to tackle through contour drawing. In contour drawing, I  never pick up my pen from the page, resulting in a zany, doodle-like parade of images. I'm a bit scared of the "Favorite movie star" prompt, since I stink at drawing people. That means I could 1) draw the Black Stallion, since I rock at drawing horses, or 2) draw things that make me think of Maureen O'Hara, Angela Lansbury, Gregory Peck, or whoever my favorite star is that day.

The idea behind the book - that someone could learn tons about my life simply through drawings - got me thinking, since any art that I create gives insight into my tastes, feelings, and history.

Whether the art you create is an autumn shawl, a tooled-leather wallet, a watercolor miniature, a pair of beaded earrings, or a waterfowl decoy, every choice you make in its design comes from the thoughts and likes that make you unique. Even if you are copying a  pattern, the fact that you chose that pattern and none other speaks volumes.

So, when you go to create art, create what you love, not what others think you should, for art is most fulfilling when it compliments the feelings inside you, rather than trying to meet outside expectations. Few things are more fulfilling than creating, and creating things that express the spilling over of your soul.