Art and Soul

crescentmoon lovers

This is my “Love You to the Moon” painting.

It’s the fourth painting I’ve created in the last seven years.

You cannot give up on yourself after you have a setback.

It could take one year. It could take five years or ten years. It could take longer.

Yet the point is you can recover yourself along with your mental health.

Our lives aren’t over by a long shot when we have a hurdle (or two or three) to clear in life.

My goal is to continue to go to the painting events.

I recommend you try one out in your city or town. The cost hovers around thirty-five to fifty dollars. You get one free glass of wine. Sometimes you can buy a personal pizza to have if you get there earlier.

The artists are friendly. It’s a happy place.

I believe everyone can be creative. That giving form to beauty via the creation of art and music and fashion is what gives us joy in life.

We could use more light love and laughter in the world.

At the Paint-n-Sip events the music is upbeat, everyone’s friendly, and the instructor gives positive constructive feedback.

You can click on my art work category to view my Golden Goddess painting too.

The Golden Goddess

golden goddess

The Golden Goddess shown here is proof that making art is like riding a bicycle–you don’t really forget how to do it.

After I came out of the hospital the first time I stopped making art. Even though I was sketching and painting ever since I was in the second grade.

Making art has mental health benefits according to a research study an M.D. conducted.

Going to a Paint-n-Sip workshop is a low-cost, judgment-free way to try out art-making to see if you’re good at it or simply if you’d like to do it.

I say: do what you love even if you’re not good at it. With practice you’ll get better.

This is only the third painting I’ve actually done over the years. All three paintings were created from 2012 through today.

I’ve titled this painting Goldie.

What do you think?

Tu B’Shevat

tu-bshevat

A friend invited me to celebrate the New Year for Trees.

Today is the New Year for Trees in the Jewish Calendar.

The Torah says: “Man is a Tree of the Field.”

Olives, dates, figs, and pomegranates are the fruits of the trees that are eaten on this day.

The pine tree photo is my creation. Not confident that you can make out that I used glitter on the leaves.

This of course is not my religion because I’m not a member of any organized religion that meets in a church.

How interesting that everyone was painting because in the New York Times yesterday there was a news article about art therapy. Apparently the second lady Karen Pence wife of our vice president has taken an interest in art therapy over the years.

Professional art therapists wonder if Pence echoes her husband’s anti-human rights stance and will try to get art therapists to convert gay people to heterosexuals. Others in the art therapy profession laud the second lady’s attempt to promote their field.

We painted and ate dried fruits and nuts.

Let’s celebrate the New Year for Trees for what it can be:

A reminder that we are human beings and part of the natural world. That when we water the soil our trees bear fruit. We also bear the fruit of our goals when we water and nurture our imagination.

I’ve written about friendship at HealthCentral. I’ll be publishing a Bruni in the City column about friendship in early 2018.

It’s true–and I’ll end here with this–that often those of us with a mental health challenge do best in artistic environments.

A verified significant number of Artist/Creatives have mental health conditions. Far better to encourage these gifts and use them to create things of beauty to share with others.

Sketch, paint, sculpt, write fiction, cut hair, apply makeup, sing, dance, act–it’s all good.