After cleaning the house – vacuuming, dusting, Windex, etc., I sat back on the sofa to admire my work. You know the feeling, when the house is camera ready and you fantasize it looks good enough for the pages of an interior decorating magazine.
When you live in a small space, even though everything has a place, it will still read cluttered to a minimalist. But to me at that moment in my little corner of the world, that feeling of pride for my place filled me with a kind of home-sweet-home bliss.
I worked with this science teacher who had animal bones and carcasses, and taxidermied things all around his classroom, many dangling from the ceiling, like something out of a horror movie. I had to substitute for him once and in my mind, I could hear the screechingly haunting scream-music from the movie Psycho as I turned and locked my eyes on the individual grossness of each object.
So there I was staring at my own artwork covering literally every wall of my home and I noticed that my art is virtually littered with hearts. I didn’t realize, you know what I mean? Evidently, I am obsessed with hearts and consequently, with the idea of love in all forms. I’m in love with love. I love to love. I love things, fashion, foods, exercise, art. I love friendship, intimacy…and romance too, of course; who doesn’t? I say I love you a lot. Or I love this or that or I’m in love with stuff pretty much all the time to the point that some of my students have labelled me a creeper. And some say I love you back.
I can imagine what adults who don’t easily love would think of the overabundance of heart motif on every wall of my home. I’m like a love psycho.
Paper collage, oil paintings, encaustic….it’s really all about the heart in here!
Artists see beauty all around them. There is beauty in symmetry and in rhythm, and texture. My perception of the world is that it is a beautiful place. I’m lucky that I get paid to color all day. It might seem frivolous to people who are close-minded to aesthetics, and I have to say I feel sad for them. Because life is a lot more fun with love in your heart and with hearts all around you to remind you of it. To remind you to love. <3
Very good, like my mother’s works – Zsuzsa Szenes…
http://www.mugyujtokhaza.hu/?page=arhivum&uid=2496
We love good feelings or doing good things or aprecciating places, friends, nature, and we show that in our work.
In may case, i like to work with colors, i like colorfull drawing and painting, and i feel the same as you said, i feel love going out from my heart for many things…..
i went two days ago to a class kind of workshop about art and spirituality tought by a jesuit priest and he explains about how each person appreciate beauty in diferent levels. He said that for example a painter like Van Gogh found in a pair of shoes the beauty of the print someone leaves but for other people is just an old pair of shoes. He try to inspire us ( people of the class) to see beauty , to seek for marvel of our environment inspite of some noise, old scenarios maybe bad painted, or graffity ruined, inspite of all these try found beauty.
LOVED this blog entry, Karen. It’s also to do with being a passionate person, isn’t it? Someone who’s life-embracing. I was reminded of something Robin Williams’ character said in ‘Dead Poets Society’, in fact I looked it up – ‘medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.’ These things provide our lives with that heightened level if we embrace it.
Thank you all for your comments. Daniel – I am happy to be just like your mother even though I am not a mother. Reminds me of the time one of my students told me my perfume made me smell like her grandmother, and more recently when a boyfriend called me mother in reference to what must have sounded to him like mommy-style discipline/concern.
Ursula – I agree with the spirituality element to art and I like the way your priest sensai did not try to instill his own views on his students, but rather, encouraged you all to seek your own beauty.
Ed – Thanks for taking the time to read and comment/ connect with me here (and for adding more UK views to my website!) I value and appreciate your support. Great quote from that movie, but I’m surprised the English teacher character ended a sentence with a preposition, lol.