Tag Archives: valentines day

Art, Blog for Mental Health, HELPING, Spirit

Share Some Self-Love this Valentine’s

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This beautiful card and others like it are on sale just in time for Valentines Day, in an effort to promote more genuine self appreciation.

dust-again

 

How about a self-love Valentine this year?

While it may be true that there are certain, say, presidential candidates who don’t need encouragement in this area, most of the people I know could benefit from more sincere self-appreciation.

I wrote about Terri last year in THIS POST

What if we didn’t just wait, hoping that others might notice we need love and appreciation? What if we had a day to honor the best in ourselves?  Well, Terri St. Cloud of Bone Sigh Arts posted this on her blog: “Let’s put the Heart in Valentine’s Day”.

You’ll find some heartfelt examples there. And I bet you can think of people in your own life who deserve more love and credit for goodness than they give themselves.

Let’s give it a try. First, spend a little time considering what you need, and see how you can give yourself more. More peace, more time, more love, more patience; more compassion. And look for ways to share this gift with others who need a little, or a lot, of encouragement to honor themselves.

It just might make the world a better place.

Art, Nature, Spirit

See the World through your Heart

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Oimage: green heart of the swamp forestne of my fangirl friends posted a wonderful definition:

Art reveals the world as seen through our heart.

We are accustomed to seeing in a practical manner; it helps us navigate our lives safely and efficiently. Red stop sign, black on white words, the pattern of a human face — But can we see more, differently?

I challenge my drawing and painting students to awaken their visual brain, see the pattern, shape and colour in the world anew, in order to show the inspiring world of natural form. I love to watch the eye-hand-brain connection take off in a new student, I feel like I am revealing a hidden world.

We are so capable, so miraculously sensitive, with our human perception, and we are so astonishingly unique and original in our view: the same flower painted by 6 artists is a remarkably different statement. There are the obvious differences in style and skill, yes, but then there is the ocean of experience each of us brings to the creative table.

Imagine we each had our own spoken language, how challenging it would be to know anything, share with another! Fortunately we have the common language of images, but we each have our own vocabulary of symbols and shapes and ideas that influence the creations we make and share.

And the strongest of these are written in our memory and emotion, written in the heart.

Why is that little girl in love with ponies? What makes my friend dance when she wears sparkles? There’s a certain ocean green blue that takes me to the sea with my dad at age 5. You won’t have the same symbols or the same stories, but we share a good deal of common ground. The sea, the water, evokes a shared joy in those who resonate with it. My mermaid-loving singer friend and I share a love of the watery colours and the deep swirling emotion that goes with it.

Her husband, born and raised in suburban Maryland, responds to stones you might not even see in the ditch, but he finds bears and owls and whales hidden in them. He can see them before they are made; I can only see them once he’s carved them.

Open your heart today, let your heart’s voice ring in you. Cherish yourself.

And share a little HEART ART today, at your own hearth. 😉