Cold Remedy: Make Art!

So, when you are feeling lousy and would like to hide from the world....a good remedy is to make art...at least you feel better emotionally even if it doesn't help the fever and sniffles ;-)

The other night to feel better I sat at my art table (aka: The Studio...ha!ha!) and put on The Beatles '1' CD...and this is what happened...

**click to enlarge**

*my text reads: cellophane flowers of yellow & green towering over your head....and...everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers that grow so incredibly high....both of course lines from 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds'...one of my all time favorites. The image of John Lennon is a rubber stamp I carved.*

*the junk mail used in this piece are the butterfly and the words 'A Revolution' (it actually said "A Mexican Revolution" an advertisement for a local Mexican restaurant!).

*****
When Kelly and I were emailing last night I mentioned to her that I made art - but not dinner!

Right after that I went to see what junk mail had arrived that day (as I now look forward to junk mail!). And there it was... just what I needed to illustrate my new summer mantra...
MAKE ART - NOT DINNER

How many of you received the flyer from IKEA announcing a summer sale? It had some cool white graphics of furnishings, etc. against a bright red background! It was all I needed to make art! :-)

**click to enlarge**

An Artist? Who? Where?

I had vowed to myself on Friday afternoon - sitting at a red light - seeing the aftermath of a terrible accident on the bridge going over the Back Bay that once my errands were completed I was staying at my art table all weekend. Art is what makes me happy. It defines me.
Or does it?
I awoke on Saturday questioning who I was. An artist? Me? Oh, I dunno. I dabble. I play. I have fun with it. But other people I know are true ARTISTS.

And I found every excuse I could to NOT make art. Vacuuming the already spotless carpet. Preparing things for veggie sandwiches for dinner. Hell, I even made a Jello fruit salad. Pathetic!
I blogged about 'sounds' in the 'hood. Read friends blogs. Wrote emails about nothing in particular. Chair danced to 60s music on iTunes...

Finally I knew I had to create something, because I didn't feel like doing anything!

This is when I fully realized the VALUE of VISUAL JOURNALS.
Playing in my journal doodling with images and words. Expressing myself. Ha!
It was then I felt my spirit lifted. It was then I acknowledged to myself... I am an ARTIST!

(Another page from my junk mail journal. The word SHUTDOWN, the words LIFT YOUR SPIRIT, and the image of the window with the ocean view are all from junk mail I found in my mailbox this past week. Art is all around us. No excuses. Go. Make. Art.)