Saturday, March 6, 2010

Art...... bliss


I have sat on this blog for months... no... make that a year... a solid year of dreaming, reading and enjoying the blogs of others (for me, reading a blog is a quick respite: a visual cup of tea or hot chocolate in my day, a breath of fresh air, a chance to re-center within chaos)... I have always been an artist and my career is that of an art therapist (working with adult oncology patients) I enjoy bringing art to the bedside of a hospitalized patient: imagine this... a patient has taken the risk to paint an image of their favorite place, or perhaps a place they would rather be (who wants to be in the hospital) the phone rings, salutations are exchanged and then the patient reports, "I'm painting a picture"... a brief pause usually accompanied with a giggle, then the patient affirms, "yeah, that's right, painting a picture". Art has the ability to change the environment and perspective, it offers a much needed diversion from the lack of control within a medical setting, focusing on what is right, for a cancer patient art is a testament to living, breathing, being.... for me, art is bliss... a spiritual practice that reminds me what brings me happiness and joy (granted the creative process can be frustrating at times... letting go of that inner critic or allowing the creative process to vary from the inspiration birthed within my mind's eye) art takes on a life of it's own, it becomes a testament if I can step aside and let it, without judgment... working full time, raising two small children, taking the time to exercise, eat, sleep and be a supportive spouse... where does art fit in... I am ever so thankful my career focuses on bringing art to others or art would be completely absent... within art: I know who I am, within art: I find the courage to explore, welcome and introduce....

4 comments:

  1. oh my gosh...your post made me cry...you are indeed blessed to be able to give such a gift to others...i have joined the artistic mothers group and hopefully will find the artist within...i love to scrap mostly, buit when scrapping i discovered i love to put a bit of myself on my pages...not all of them...but that is my goal...i am mum to 6 and homeschool, one of my little boys due to his medical condition...i have just done the first step of shonas book...creating background pages and we all just loved getting messy...i cvn see this as being great therapy for us all...take care and i am really looking forward to getting to know you threough your blog and your work...take care...mandy...xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a beautiful post. You have such an awesome job where you can make such a difference in the lives of others. Now you can make a difference in your own life as well! So glad you joined our group. Just remember, a little each day. Don't try to do too much in one sitting.

    There have been a couple of changes in the instructions I sent you. To make things easier for everyone since our group has grown so much, instead of having to put all of the links in each post or on your sidebar, I have made a button for the group. Just grab my button and put that in your sidebar.

    The other change is that instead of having to post at the end of each week, you may post about your progress any time of the week that is best for you; but do try to post weekly. When posting your progress each week, if you could mention the group and a link to my blog in your posts, that would be great. That way people can go to my blog and see the list of the other participants and click around to see their progress as well.

    Please check my blog often for tips, notes of encouragement and exciting news. Coming soon will be a post about a Flickr group for our Mothers' art group and also a giveaway.

    And if you could you please send me your email address to sewingwithtrudy at yahoo dot com so that if I want to do a group email, I'll have everyone's address? Thanks so much.

    Trudy Callan
    Group coordinator for The Artistic Mother Art Group
    www.artisticcreationswithtrudy.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. bless your heart, i bow to you sweet person
    my respect

    ReplyDelete