I always knew I wanted to be an artist. My parents are both artists, my mom a talented painter & illustrator (see her fabulous mandala paintings here) and my dad a painter, musician & mastermind of model trains. Creativity is "in my blood" as many have told me, but its a fire you need to feed to keep burning. I thought my artistic path would take me to full blown career, illustrating children's books and editorial ads, what I studied in college and recieved my BFA in. At that point, I didn't really know what the word "art" meant to me, something on a wall in a gallery or a museum? A difficult way to make a living? Now I have a different definition. When my life started to shift towards yoga, I was excited to find a way to pull it all together...now I know, yoga and art aren't different at all, they are one in the same! Creativity is a lifestyle.
To me, art is an expression of a fire lit inside of us. Something to be shared, a delight of the senses, an offering, a practice that invigorates us daily, something to be invented and molded as a reflection of YOU.
There are infinite ways to be creative, we don't have to know how to build with clay, how to hit the high note or what colors look good on a cake. We don't need to be married to the same medium for our entire lives either, we can thrive off imagining, constructing and giving life to our ideas in a million different ways. We can stir up a delicious meal for ourselves, write down our thoughts, find interesting ways to heal our bodies, make travel plans. It's all ART. Innovatively delivering these things to the people around you is the same as signing your painting, putting it in a frame, hammering a nail in the wall and hanging it. What do you feel passionate about dreaming up for yourself, and can't help but let it bubble over for others to enjoy, learn, or indulge?
I still paint, not as much as I'd like to, but I spend time my planning and theming my classes with something new and fresh, I find ways to sew it all together, I'm putting myself out there in a creative way online. I make jewelry, I practice self care, so I have something to give, I travel and see new places to feel inspired. Find the art in life. We don't need to be talented or "have good genes", we just need to make a habit out of creating. We need to make the space for it. Can we do what wakes us up and makes us feel alive? Alive in our moments so we can soak in the beauty and pour it back out, onto a canvas, into a journal, into the ears of an audience or onto a loved one's plate. Put on your smock, let it be messy and most importantly let it take form. Let it be yours.