I would like to welcome old subscribers and new visitors to my blog on my new FASO website!  You can still visit my blog on my Weebly website and I will bring a few of the most viewed blogs forward here in future months if appropriate. 

My focus the last several weeks has been searching for ways to create art when there continues to be negative influences surrounding our lives.  I can't convey how important friends and followers of my art are in making comments on my art when it is posted on social media.  I hope you will continue to comment and will continue to like my art when you visit any of my social media pages.  We all need to connect with people and right now this is an important way to reach out to others.  Thank you.

What can I do as an artist to create a positive moment in your day when you see my art?  What can I say in my monthly newsletters that might give you an idea or a creative beginning on something you are working on -- be it art, music, crafts or other interests?  It is my hope that you will follow my journey as an artist and interact as you feel is appropriate.

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An article by  Alyson Stanfield, "What’s The Point of Making Art When The World Is So Screwed Up?" reposted her article from 2015.  This arrived in my email just in the knick of time. This can be applied to any of the arts. 

Her 8 points on why artists should keep painting lifted my spirits and my creativity:  every so often you need to be reminded that what you do has great value in the world.

1. Art is why you’re here.
Do you see that NOT making art isn’t going to save the world?

In fact, it is doing the opposite because one less person isn’t living their potential.

Not making art is depriving the world. Not just the potential of your art, but of the entirety of you.

Making art makes you whole and allows you to contribute to the world from a healthier position.

2. Art saves lives.
I don’t know about you, but I am tired of hearing about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education, and I don’t even have kids.

I have nothing against these pursuits (my husband has a Ph.D. in mathematical physics). But I believe that there are children who will never be scientists or mathematicians and who will grow up to solve big problems for society because they are creative and have developed critical thinking skills. They are probably disenfranchised from the current education system, but they are saved by art, music, literature, dance, and poetry.

My heart weeps for these kids who are being taught that their talents and interests don’t fit into the box. Let’s hear it for STEAM, which adds the arts back into the curriculum.

3. Art nourishes the soul.
It’s a cliché, but absolutely true. Art nourishes souls.

Art only nourishes the soul of the artist and of those who are privileged enough to experience it.

Privilege doesn’t have anything to do with income level. In this case, privilege means access. If kids don’t make art in school or take trips to museums, they are less likely to experience art as adults.

4. Art encourages us to go within.
In all of the hustle of our techno-filled daily life, art encourages us to slow down and venture within ourselves.

When we experience art, we escape to a place of peace and of contemplation. We are reminded of the richness of life.

We need art for respite.

5. Art helps connect us to one another.
How delightfully ironic that art can be both a contemplative and social experience.

Art unites us, but it does so differently than when we’re cheering for a sports team.

Art questions and confounds while also delighting us.

Pay attention and you might find the same thing going on at your local art museum.

6. Art connects us to civilization.
While art makes it easy for us to go within, it also reminds us to look beyond ourselves and even our contemporary communities.

Art was my entry point to history, religion, philosophy, geography, other cultures, mythology, science, revolution, and so much more. Art is a vehicle for experiencing the world.

7. Art completes our humanity.

Dana Goia, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts,  explained that art is used to educate children about their feelings, not just their analytical thought processes. This comes in handy when, as adults, they are asked to analyze situations and not just facts and figures.

The "arts" foster individuality, freedom, and self-expression, the very ideals on which our nation is built. Art is not a luxury, but absolutely necessary, to complete our humanity. “Art … simultaneously addresses our intellect, our senses, our emotions, our imagination, our intuition, our memory and our physical body — not separately, but together, simultaneously, holistically.”

8. We need you to tell the story:  There is value in continuing to make art!
Let’s face it: the world has always been screwed up. Yes, there is much beauty and magnificence throughout the centuries, but there have been ruinous wars, brutal treatment of our brothers and sisters, and devastating natural disasters.

Artists have shone a light on inequity and injustice throughout history, even when they seem unbearable to view.

Francisco Goya painted the execution of Spanish patriots rising against Napoleon’s army; Picasso painted the horrific aftermath of the bombing of a Basque village by Spanish Nationalists; and the Maya artists depicted sacrificial captives.

You should keep making art exactly because the world is screwed up.

We need people devoted to communicating through the universal language of art to tell the story of our age. We need more people who are devoted to beauty and to peace.

That’s your purpose. That’s why you were put here and given the curiosity and talent of an artist. To abandon it would be tragic.