Art and Expression In Life is All Around

I left the house askew, needing dusting, the floors unswept, sewing and art projects scattered in almost every room unfinished or poised with ideas waiting to blossom into form from my imagination.

The sky outside was threatening, but I wanted to walk.  I took the umbrella, just in case, setting off for the local coffee shop, dropping letters into a mail box along the way.  I headed past the now famous and controversial “Listener”, a giant naked green lady, her gaze serenely intent on the heavens.  She is oblivious to her nakedness and all that find her “distasteful” – she is herself, a unique expression of life’s essence and the artist who created her.

I decide to sit at a table outside under a red umbrella.  It occurs to me that the color red is showing up a lot  in my life lately.  The boldness of red.  Courage.  Fearlessly moving forward.  All of these is the subtle message being given to me within the color red.  Just what I need now on my journey to embody more fully, the integration of art in my life!

I sit sipping latte from a yellow cup and saucer, observing colors all around me.

Latte Sunday, at Plank, Cloverdale, CA

The gray tones of early morning are now gone.  The artfulness of this little bit of town is now set against a sky that has gone fluffy with giant clouds, with patches of brilliant blue sky emerging from behind them.

We take our inspiration for art from life all around us.  The outward vision fuels the inner vision and from there springs our interpretation of the worlds that we find. Colors in nature play in our vision to spill upon the canvas.   Like the “Listener” who asks us to stop and really hear beyond ourselves, colors present themselves, both subtle and bold, so that we may see and feel more clearly the riches around us.

Whatever art form I am drawn to, whatever colors are calling me, the feeling of the colors in the portrayal is just as important as the image itself.  On the walk home, I found beauty of colors in a tangle of weeds and at an old gate to an abandoned house.  After I paint them onto canvases waiting in the wings, these images will continue to tell their story, long after the blossoms have faded.

Take your inner artist for a walk, keeping an open mind for the unexpected beauty and simplicity in the vignette’s of nature.  See what colors you come home with to inspire you.

© Maria Doglio, April 27, 2014