Somehow I Could Find My Way Back

I have issues when people tell me that they just can't "do" art.

I hear this all of the time: "I'm just not artistic." "I can't draw or anything." "I wish I was artistic."

These statements send needles into my chest. Everyone is artistic. People get this constriction around their thoughts that I don't understand. What is everyone classifying art to be?

As someone who is dedicating (or DEBTicating, as I should say) my life to art, design, and expression, I have my own definition of what art really is. To me, art is any form of expression or transference of emotions, feelings, or thoughts in any medium.

There are the typical mediums people recognize as associated with art.

• Painting
• Sculpting
• Photography
• Drawing
• etc.

Then there are things people overlook or disregard as art.

• Music/Singing
• Architecture
• Landscaping
• Digital Media
• Floral Design (MOM)
• Letters
• Collages
• Doodles
• Fashion/Clothing
• So much more than we could ever imagine.

The only requirement for art is feeling. 

Have you ever been sad when a dog died? 

Have you ever looked at a sunrise/sunset and been taken aback? 

Have you ever seen an infant and smiled? 

Have you ever been touched and felt your heart pulsate an awkward beat? 

Have you ever loved someone so much that they're all you think about? 

Have you ever had a friend who gives your very existence its light? 

Have you ever been hurt? 

Have you been angry and had nothing you could do about it?

Have you ever watched the news and wanted to cry?

Have you ever cried?

Have you ever looked at the night sky and thought, "wow."?

Have you been so upset you could punch a wall?

Have you ever given up?

Have you ever wanted to stop living?

Have you ever heard music and a tear streaked down your face?

Have you ever felt that first day of fall or spring as the breeze blows past your skin?

Have you ever wondered what's up with that one we call 'God'?

Have you ever missed someone?

Have you ever felt? 

If you can answer, "yes," to any those questions, then you are capable of creating art.

Don't know how to make the piece of work that you feel should be made?

Rip up paper and glue it together how your hands tell you.

Make ANYTHING and DESTROY it.

Stare at a blank piece of paper until it tells you what to make (it will, I promise).

Look through a camera lens and let it guide you to its subject.

The most beautiful soul on this earth once told me something that has stayed with me ever since.

"In order to gain control, we must lose all control."

Let go. Let yourself feel. Recognize the beauty in even the smallest of things. Love.

Don't ever tell me you don't know how to "do" art. Everyone can. Everyone should.

RWH