Kelly Rae Roberts, to whom I owe so much because it was her book, Taking Flight that helped me loosen up, take paint and splatter it on a piece of canvas, play with rubber stamps and slowly be comfortable with drawing simple human figures, and get out of architecture's builder-friendly, technical lines, is featured in Somerset Studio's March issue. On my trip to Springfield, MO yesterday (because we miss Borders), I grabbed my copy. In it, Kelly Rae shares this:
"I create art to heal the pieces of me that need nurturing, and in turn, my healing experience (the actual art) becomes a portal for someone else's healing experience. And it goes on and on like a circle of healing... from one person to the next." She goes on to share, "... this is what we're all doing out there in the world with our gifts, our art, our words, and our beings. We are nurturing and healing ourselves with our various work, crafts and very beings-- which then goes forward out into the world to become part of someone else's healing experience. I can;t think of a better way to live. We are indeed all connected inside this deeply meaningful circle of giving and receiving."
Nice food for thought. So, the next time I'm all choked up in my studio and I can't seem to do anything in there, I will read Kelly Rae Roberts' words. To me, the moment I step back and realize that it's all about giving, I lose all the judgments I have of my own art. It is very difficult to silence the inner critic, but the thought of giving it away makes this whole experience so worth it. All of a sudden, there is this wonderful quest for the palette of forms, colors, and textures to express. You don't learn that in art or design school. Nobody gives you that permission, and it's fantastic to know that you have every right to it. So tomorrow, I will march into that studio with openness. I'll let you all know what will come out of me.
