I have found a kindred spirit in artist Michele West. Michele teaches and creates art with her daughter, Sarah, at The Sarah West Gallery of Fine Art  in Smiths Station, Alabama.  Enjoy reading about this mother/daughter team’s inspirations and thoughts on art in our Artistic Prose community.

❤️Barbara

Visit The Sarah West Gallery of Fine Art here .

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January 27, 2016 – Illuminations of Life

The calendar page turns to January and with the new year comes new inspirations. Being involved within a gallery and studios I am aware of the constant achievement and drive within an artist to explore a greater depth or capability within their artistry. The artist is always searching for more skill, ability to express, and new discoveries. For the artist it isn’t a hobby or entertainment, it is a way to be. It is about their existence, their journey through life. It is better explained through the following quote.

“True art comes out of an artist’s urgent need to express the feelings that have formed inside him, just as a mother needs to give birth to her baby. False art answers only to profit.” Leo Tolstoy

For the artist it is a process, a birth. It is a time filled with much emotion. Sometimes it is from overwhelming happiness, other times it is expressive tears, or an opportunity to shout with a loud voice. In the end the artist has delivered their soul, seemingly carried their spirit until the end. With the signature the piece is handed over in a whole, and it is what it is, it is expressive creation.

There are many ideas about why we draw or paint a certain subject or person. I for one have had that thought as I passed a painting that caught my eye. I find it intriguing to know the story behind a painting. It is a history in itself. For that discussion there more reasons than could be named but I would like to share my answers for my choice of artwork. Years ago, I had a teacher that told me more times than once, “Paint current events. Don’t paint Sargent’s portraits, but paint an individual today, someone in the culture of your surroundings, and reflecting today’s style and traditions.” I feel that need, the need to carry on the tradition of preserving stories of life through art. To capture what influences my life today.

Sometimes I study in color and other times I study in charcoal. Sometimes I study landscapes, animals or people. It is my intent to express what a subject brought to my life and how it affected my senses. Much of the time it is a pouring out of what has inspired me or gifted more quality into my life. History is a constant for me. As an artist I am deeply affected by history almost as much as the events and people that surround me in present day. When you look back into other artist lives and artwork, they had a unique way of leaving a record of what surrounded their life. It is all very well done. All things have been painted. Living, dying, love, and nature, all are portions of the everyday events of life lived. The difference is that it changes by the individual lives that come into being and the way they perform these acts. Learning from the past brings us a greater quality in today. Musicians, flowers, trees, the sky have all been expressed. A blue sky comes and goes just as the sun and the moon, but the difference is how my eyes saw it flow through my life today. As the sunset influenced me, what influences it? There are many sunset but today’s will never be repeated. These studies present an education on how our atmosphere is influenced and how it can be improved.

Portraits have been created since time began, yet until today a portrait could not capture the individual sitting across the room from me. Never before and never again will their light of life be duplicated? Every life is special. Every creation is special. Each individual has greatness in them. Sometimes we are given a moment to see it and another moment to shine a light on it. At that point both the appreciator and the individual can celebrate with joy the expression of life and how it transformed the world at that moment. From my paint palette, ink well, or pastel box may there always come illuminations of life today, as I see it, and how it changed the world, my world, for that moment.

Within this year I will continue building and forming and exhibition of reflections of life. This exhibition will be one that will showcase the glimmers of light that exploded before me, the impact it had in my day, and will be accompanied by a short story about the featured subject. Everyone has a story and I love to be able to express it through my artistry.

Pictured in this blog are pastel sketches and some finer pastel portraiture. Many were created in moments to express a light that I saw and how it touched my heart.

ART IS LIFE EXPRESSED – Michele West

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September 28, 2015 – Art has endless facets

As an artist I am always eager to learn, explore, and discover! Fortunately for me the discoveries found through studies in the world of art are endless. I sometimes assist in teaching art in our studios, but many times I remark to new faces that “Art” has taught me. Give me time and a paint brush and I will always learn something new. Experience is also a great teacher. I am always fascinated and eager to learn the process in achieving the visual results of pieces that I am drawn to.

Some years back I was invited to the studios of a stained glass artisan. I found the visit to be so enchanting to me. I have to agree with Louis Comfort Tiffany as he said, “Color is to the eye what music is to the ear.” Mr. Phillips, the glass artisan, took me through his studio and showed me his glass works and shared stories about each piece. There was something unique to be said about each one. In getting to the point of the invitation, he began to tell me that he was looking for someone to be a staff artist. He was now in his eighties and failing health. His stained glass reputation and business had been established for many years. He knew his time was drawing to a close and he wanted to pass down his craft and have someone to refer his clients to. Honored by this invitation/request, I accepted. My daughter who is a fellow artist and I spent hours of dedication right beside him taking in all that we could. It was time well spent. Sometimes we worked into the early morning hours. We knew time was limited and we not only had to learn the process but we had to learn how to troubleshoot and how to do glass restoration work. Although this great artisan is no longer with us, his craft is instilled in us and we are happy to carry on his tradition in Stained Glass.

This is my most recent piece of church glass. With each hand crafted piece of glass, the finished artwork has a story of its’ own that is now encased in lead and shines with the light’s glow in our fall exhibition at The Sarah West Gallery of Fine Art.

 

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July 21, 2015 – Eyes: The windows to our home.

I find that eyes are a mechanism for us to see out and yet so many times it is by observing eyes of others you can begin to see in. Just as walking past a shop and peering through the glass, eyes speak so much about your place, your home.

Eyes are an intense creation with two million working parts, and the ability to process thousands of bits of information in a short span of time. How valuable eyes are and yet as a part of our being they are just as common to us as the breath we breathe, the hands that hold, or even our feet that transport us to so many destinations. It is the simplicity of these things that when pondered bring us to a greater place of awareness. Thoughts begin to lead us in a direction of appreciation of the mechanics of our own individual being and the how much they form our quality of life. It is with journeys as this that I begin to appreciate, care, and bring more attentiveness to the treasures each continues to bring to me every day. These things, with just a moment’s glimpse, processed and acknowledged, are so powerful and can have a vast impact on our lives. Much can be said on the subject of the power of eyes. I’ll stop here and leave you with space to collect your own thought about what you would see looking back through the windows of your being, your home. May you find there to be much peace and happiness.

In relation to art, I find that especially when portraying animals, if you get the eyes and the nose right, 75% of the work is done. Eyes tell so much about a creature. Eyes are the screen displaying happiness, sadness, shyness, boldness, even the feeling of warmth and love. I have enjoyed doing so many portraits of “man’s best friend.” A philosopher once said, “An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In relation to eyes and art, here are a few eyes that I have enjoyed in my artwork.

ART IS LIFE EXPRESSED – Michele West

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July 6, 2015 – Sometimes the best plan is no plan at all

Within an hour I had made my way home, packed my bags, and found myself traveling north into an unplanned adventure. Twenty-three hundred miles up the road I found myself at The National Museum of American Illustration. As unexpected as the hop and skip across twelve states were the tears that slipped into my eyes and the movement of my heart as I entered the gallery. I have visited many museums and have been greatly impressed by the magnificent works of art in each. As I began to pour over the works I could see clearly the history of days gone by as this artist must have seen it. It was the events throughout their lives that were shared bringing the truest meaning to the words, “Art is life expressed.”Although Rockwell, Gibson, Fisher, and Parrish are incredible artist, I had never been a huge admirer. Becoming acquainted with their works in person I was amazed at the talents of these men! I realize how powerful and important art is. It has been important to me for so many reasons, but now more than ever I realize a picture does paint a thousand words, persuade a world, impact nations, and preserve remembrance of tragedy and triumph. Art survives. Art tells stories, has deep meaning that extends further than the surface of the paint.

Another great thing about art in our society is that it can express so much and be accepted. Rules change, civilizations change, rulers change, wars happen, and yet art throughout the ages is accepted. Sometimes art speaks out, screaming freedom, sometimes art cries with inner fear, sometimes art brings forth life and rejuvenation in the soul and sometimes it expresses loss and death. In all these events it seems that we are willing as a society to take a look at a piece of artwork and try to understand it. I find this as art teaching, showing us how to solve issues, to have the compassion to try and understand. Art, so many times, shows the atmosphere in which each individual lives or a culture that has existed before them in history. Art expresses imagination with freedom. Art is powerful and can express through the use of imagination and go beyond what seems to be the rules of limitations. In art nothing is impossible. Art can make the world exist in complete peace. Art can remove the obstacles of limits on life.

Existing in art, the daily sickness of disease can be obliterated and perfect health restored. Somewhere in the balance between Norman Rockwell’s historical drawing and paintings and the works of the American Imagist Maxfield Parrish, I found a world of appreciation of the preservation of history, love of life, and the limitlessness of living in the art of expression. Enthralled by the depth that I felt in my spirit while viewing each piece, I must express the importance of not discarding anything simply because we do not understand but rather to listen with the wisdom that time brings an appreciation that can be found in all things.

There were too many pieces to name and although I would love to share with them all with everyone, I was taken back time and again to a piece by Maxfield Parrish which was titled: Century Midsummer Holiday Number. August 1897. The contrast in color and tone reached somewhere inside me and I can’t seem to get away from that piece. It was stamped in my mind. Although I have it in a book, I see it as vivid as when I stood in front of it. Autumn has always been my favorite season. I adore the simplicity and depth of this piece and realize I must take the time to know why it impressed me so.

Walking away I felt that I was in the company of these men, listening to what they had to say, knowing what they loved and how they felt. They are still speaking, visiting, and impacting lives beyond the limits of living life as we know it. These me accomplished what I would love for my artwork to do, many years from now. My print, my existence, my contribution, my time, the things that made my living richer, the impact of events of my time, my life, to be passed along if only among my family that I love so dear. I realize that the visit added much thought and purpose to my expression. The spirits found in Newport, Rhode Island will speak to you in unending volumes. They are found in the architecture, the canvases of paint, the paper holding ink, the gardens with unending beauty and the enchantment of the ones who left there so long ago. It is such a small place and yet there are worlds of history there.

ART IS LIFE EXPRESSED – Michele West

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 June 9, 2015 – The Art of Awareness

Art is everywhere and performed by all creatures. There is a universal language in art that connects all cultures, beings and creations.

Awareness determines how much we realize a connection that has no barriers. I have discovered in my own life that one of the greatest gifts ever given with life is awareness. Awareness is found in the moments that we truly listen, see, taste, touch, and smell. These senses are as natural as the air we breathe. Senses are a part of our system and we are constantly subconsciously using them without noticing the true depth of awareness that this gift can bring us. Through these senses the world around can change in our view in the span of a moment. We can smell a scent of Lavender in the air. We may hear the flowing stream as it spills over the rocks. Standing in the rolling waves from the ocean as they drift in, I feel the warm water caressing my skin. Sitting on a grassy hillside we watch the hues of clouds change color as the move over a mountain range. I sip a chamomile tea at day’s and take a moment to realize what those senses brought to me and how I can be moved into a world of calm. Many times we rush down the beach with the crowd, busied by the tight schedule of the plans for the day. Often those calming waves go without notice and we pass without the awareness of what we missed. Awareness is a key to the unending quality of living life.

Taking a moment to enter through garden’s gate, I take a few deep breaths and focus on the beauty my sense will bring to me. I enjoy the shade provided by the clouds and the stone’s giving back of coolness beneath my feet as I walk a path. My eyes take in the happy, fresh, and passionate colors of orange, red and yellow, along with a contrasting balance of the calm colors of soft pinks, blues, and violets. I notice continuity within them all. With every color found in each plant, I realized they are all structured with the color of life, growth, nature and harmony, hues of green. Enjoying the depth that is unending on that subject, I stash away notes to contemplate and get back to the experience of the moment.

While taking in the beauty of the roses that surrounded me, had I been rushing by, I would have missed this little creature that had so much to teach me through the world of his art.

This little fellow lectured me with unheard words of profound teachings while his rhythm about his work never skipped a beat. Busy about his own creations he was doing exactly what he was meant to do.

This little “Summer Bee” was living his purpose. He worked feverishly as if he realized life was short and much was to be done. He worked passionately with great goals to fulfill. He was such a small creature, with such a great task. I couldn’t help by be reminded of the taking in and giving back. In a way I think we all have a portion granted to us in life of our own art, our language that transcends the barriers and the limitations imposed by the ways of mankind.

 

I was thankful for the treasures that awareness brought to me, a wealth of experience within the space of a few moments, and much more to gain within the remaining vast measures of time left to live in one day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ART IS LIFE EXPRESSED – Michele West

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May 11. 2015 – Free the Art Spirit – Flow Painting

Sometimes when approaching the beginning of a piece of art it is better to be in the mind set to explore than expect a certain outcome. I have enjoyed some of the greatest moments in art when I was in the place spiritually to give into freedom and accept what the moments experience brought. Many times we create our own obstacles that hold us back. Free the art spirit, begin the journey with the paint and see where it will take you. With this idea in mind you are more open to discover along the way. Creating becomes more of an experience and often times a new approach will be discovered along the way. An important note is to believe in yourself and trust the experience. Everything is art. A simple tree bark is art. Clouds in the sky are masterful art. The way your breath swirls into a cool crisp morning air shows an artful beauty. The very color palette on a dead leaf that has fallen onto the ground shows a display of art. I am yet to see anything that I can’t identify as art. So be free, be yourself. If I am painting a portrait for someone then I am accepting that it will be. If I am exploring, then I am also accepting that it will be.
When I began these two pieces, I intended for it to be an experience that I would follow until it showed itself complete. Gathering my paper, inks, and a palette knife I head into my studio. Putting on Zen Garden radio, I begin. Never concerned with a plan, never with an idea to express, I start the process. After a coat of water, I drop the ink onto the paper and the flow of colors blend and swirl with each passing of the palette knife as it pushes across the surface. Gliding freely, sweeping through the river of colors, an image begins to surface and I know that the work is complete.

 

 

 

 

 

ART IS LIFE EXPRESSED – Michele West

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April 17, 2015 – A Melody of Art, Music, and Nature

“Come and walk with me through the garden….” (Lyrics by David Childers)

There is something about gardens, crops, soil, and nature… it’s a rejuvenating and connecting force like no other. I am amazed by the growth that can come from one planted seed. For a long time now I have been pursuing many dreams. As the sun shines down on one, another sprouts up and suddenly there are so many new sprouts growing with an alarming rate that I realize that I have much to attend. Sometimes I call it dreams, other times, I recognize it as an unquenchable passion to live in a way that I feel complete, knowing I have done my best, knowing I am living to share life as an ongoing and beautiful gift . With that being said, through our ‘art life’ many things have crossed our path. Last year we were introduced to The Elma C. Lomax Incubator Farm in Concord, North Carolina. After meeting some of the wonderful people involved there, we were taken on a tour of the farm. Any descriptive word at this point would be an understatement of the impact this place had on our lives. While listening to the words of the farmer who showed us around, my heart and soul had a meeting and it was more than my mind could keep up with. My thoughts went far beyond crops and into the depths of our well being. I saw something with unending good for the individual, family, and community. It was something that I knew we had to have in our little world..another help, another source of good, another seed to plant and to offer those who walk through our doors seeking enrichment, another source of quality in our lives. We have found that some want to explore art, but on whole, most just want an experience to add to a better quality of life into their day. Many times that quality comes from the moments shared and a feeling of peace, calm , and connection happens surrounding a seemingly simple art study. Visiting Lomax, another segment in our journey began in becoming more aware of a place in nature where these connections are found. When tending a garden it is another avenue of connecting the mind, body, and spirit. A few weeks ago we attended our first gardening workshop at Lomax. This was our start in cultivating a space in our life that will make a difference beyond the beauty of organic crops that will transport from our little garden to table . Realizing that it is one more branch in this beautiful tree that has deep roots and will support the great expanse, or dreams, to come in our life. Each leaf is a part of a beautiful work that makes up a whole breathing, growing and thriving tree.

“Let us speak of all the things that will be…Let us squeeze all the life of our moments together and never surrender our dreams….”  (Lyrics by David Childers)

A few months ago I had the privilege of visiting with two wonderful people, David and Linda Childers. When you can sit and talk openly and comfortably about subjects of art, God, and just about everything in life..you know you have met a kindred spirit. Like old neighbors we sipped coffee and shared stories until the clock hands had turned and reminded us that we must move on. A day is always a delight to me when I get to take in another artist’s work. I loved pouring over the various paintings by David. I found them just as interesting as his musical artistry. It was a special treat when he grabbed the guitar and shared two wonderful songs with us before we departed. Those moments are little treasures that we can just sit back and recall and enjoy all over again. That day left me with knowing I had to add a concert to my “to-do” list for the near future. Fortunately for me.. we were able to do just that after the morning at the Lomax Farm. Meeting again, after a quick sound check we shared a few more stories and then enjoyed the music and songs of this wonderful artist. I am always amazed at a songwriter’s ability to deliver their heart into words in such an expressive way. Very happy for the opportunity to take in his songs. It was the icing on the cake when I was able to add two paintings by him to my art collection. What extraordinary horizons people venture toward in their experiences through life. We are all blessed when they are shared. May we “never surrender our dreams.”

With so much spoken about nature, art and music, I will share some words of my favorite artist, Robert Henri:

“Manet did not do the expected. He was a pioneer. He followed his individual whim. Told the public what he wanted it to know, not the timeworn things the public already knew and thought it wanted to hear again. The public was very much offended.
We have Great Periods. Periods when we freshen, become disposed toward health and happiness, move forward into hopeful philosophy. Then comes the stamp of the personal whim.
Technique becomes a tool, not an objective. We are interested and we have expressions we must make. All things are appreciated with an abundance of humor. There is an association with nature. Something happens between us and the flowers in the garden, a communication of gayety, a rhythm in the grass understood—something charming in a day’s wash hung on the line—a song running through it all. Associations with nature. It’s a state to be in and a state to paint in.”

Robert Henri- The Art Spirit

It was a weekend spent in a way where there seemed to be an intertwining of life, art, music, and nature. A spiritual combination for me where dreams get the perfect amount of water and warmth and continue to grow. When some reach the surface they become a part of one dream, maturing and pouring out until it drops new seeds of inspiration to the ground and we see only a continuous renewal of life and dreams that will be the future. In this process we begin to see a true melody carried all the way through.

ART IS LIFE EXPRESSED – Michele West

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 March 12, 2015 –  Gem of a City

Many Saturday mornings I find the open road and the car heads north… to Asheville.  It’s just as natural a place to end up as my own driveway. Why, Asheville, North Carolina? Why do I love Asheville so much? I think one of the reasons I enjoy Asheville so much is because I see the past, present, and future so actively blending together in that area. I can see how the past impressed a deep print of sustainability into the community. It’s a network of people that have returned to the idea started years ago to do as much as they can to support and rely on the neighboring businesses in the area. The community is a chain that connects local businesses to one another and promotes an endless “Go Local” movement.

Asheville is a gem of a city that has so many facets. It displays many brilliant prisms of life. I can easily have my senses ignited by the various artisans that pursue their passion of singing and performing. To the people that pass by the street corner, it is a special added delight that is always there. A few blocks from the heart of the city you can wander through the many studios. Potters, painters, and weavers are found working their art throughout.

I love that on 40 East around exit 44 you begin to smell the surrounding forest that draws you in and it makes you crave the trail into tranquility that Pisgah offers. Winding away from town on the Blue Ridge Parkway only minutes from the city, are endless escapes.
Another reason I love Asheville is the fact that my eyes can be pulled through the grand architectural works of Richard Morris Hunt until they rest on one of my favorite paintings by John Singer Sargent. This piece is an extraordinary portrait of Fredrick Olmsted. Asheville seems to have a power to weave a magic spell in the realm of the artist’s spirit until it is inevitable that art and anything of the creative nature happens. It is a vortex of creative energy.

With this being said I have managed to bring two more favorite things into one place, Asheville and John Singer Sargent. I am always drawn to the Impressionists, and Asheville has made quite the impression in my life.

 

 

 

 

 

ART IS LIFE EXPRESSED – Michele West

 

 

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March 3, 2015 – Music Moves the Art Spirit

Artists seem to have a long list of favorite things, places, writers, singers, musicians, other artists, and the list goes on and on…

I am an artist and a romantic of sorts, so it doesn’t take much for the key to be turned, a door opened, and I easily find myself ‘swept away’ into days gone by. Although a visionary, I easily find inspiration in looking back into the past. I am intrigued by the lives of those that left marks through time that we can reflect on to see how their history was made and their contributions in the realm of “greater good.”

Art and music wind a thread that is inseparable. They are both the result of a vision of the heart. Looking over the goodies that Barbara has managed to collect into her “basket of good,” I notice familiar names. I see names of singers, song writers, musicians, and artists. These creative souls have a way of turning the key of inspiration for me. As I continue to share my experiences and thoughts, you will quickly become acquainted with my list of favorites. The artists and musicians of the past and present bring together a world of inspiration that helps us in making our history each day. For those days when we feel we will never be able to deliver our passion again, there are the songs of hope that shatter all doubt by lifting our spirit to the mountain top. When we need solitude, there is the painting of the tranquil stream that flows through the forest. As we pause to drink it in one may begin to hear it’s flow over the rocks and escape the cluttered thoughts of the moment.

Today I will remember one of the sparks that set our studios aflame at The Sarah West Gallery of Fine Art. Eventually you will hear me call them all by name as we can’t help but share when a good thing crosses our path. Some years back we took the Blue Ridge Parkway out of Asheville toward Sylva, North Carolina. Leaving the cool morning breeze of the “Paris of the South,” we began to climb the mountain road into the morning’s chilled fog that had spread across Appalachia. My daughter began to tell me about a band she had discovered recently. Through the tunnels and around the curves we drove and somewhere around the entrance to the Buck Springs trail she loaded the cd. I remember as I listened I became aware that this was different…not the musical norm found on the radio. I heard instruments that are played deeply rooted in traditions of the past which had moments of transforming into an abrupt modern edge. As my favorite artist, Robert Henri, once said, “Know what the old masters did. Know how they composed their pictures, but do not fall into the conventions they established. These conventions were right for them, and they are wonderful. They made their language. You make yours. All the past can help you.” Influences of days past placed in the hands of a present day musician who caringly and respectably molded it to making his own language and history. Already charged with the abundant inspiration that we always seem to gather in Asheville, we were being lifted to even greater heights. This band’s raw artistry, originality, and lyrical perfection was painting words with such gravity they grabbed our spirit, held it in a space where you felt you couldn’t breathe at moments because it had moved the very depths of your soul. Listening to their songs, we felt they had expressed in words our own life experiences. Beyond that day on the Blue Ridge, those songs became a sound of solitude that carried us through many valleys of life to find ourselves upon another mountaintop again. From experiencing this band’s music, it groomed many days into memorable times in the making of our own history and contributions as we strive to “Leave behind the world a better way.” (Segment of Lyrics from Salvation Song by The Avett Brothers)

Uncountable are the many strokes brushed across the canvas in our studios, pushed by the musical force of the remarkable band, The Avett Brothers. On October 31, 2014, when attending a concert by The Avett Brothers in Asheville, many memories were made. To us it was a historical night. It was a night that was watched and shared among a common link of a few thousand people across America. It was a time when many people had shared a network of love, life and appreciation surrounding this band and their music. While many enjoyed this journey together throughout the year, there was a personal journey of one special person. The band reached out in a compassionate way giving an individual hope, light, and love that has continued to bring sunshine with some memories to hold onto during some challenging days of life. We greatly appreciate the heart of this band. While connecting with the thousands they took a moment to make a difference for one. It is these sentiments that shine through in The Avett Brothers song writing, music and lives that truly inspires and “Leave the world behind a better way.”

The inspiration flowed from the experience of that night in North Carolina, down around the bends, over the mountains, through the Chattahoochee Valley, across the railroad tracks and into our studios in Smiths Station, Alabama. Brushes danced across canvas and the music caused us to make another segment of our history.

ART IS LIFE EXPRESSED – Michele West

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 February 9, 2015 – Focus is found through the Strokes of a Pencil

When we think of art, certain words come to mind: creativity, expression, imagination, freedom. There are also contrasting words that come to mind: focus, connection, centered, attention and concentration. Art has the powerful way of taking us captive. The very act of beginning a piece of art can be a very centering experience.

In life there are so many things going on around us, sometimes we get lost forgetting to sift through and find our way back within ourselves. It is there where we forget our ability to focus and have balance, causing us to see chaos, feel chaos and produce chaos. It reminds me of many streams converging at once, to enter a river. At that place, it gets loud and confusing. Which stream do you follow? Which stream do you hear? Continuing on you will find a river flowing with purpose to deliver to the sea.

The other day a student came in wearing a label. Not the label of a clothing designer, but a label given so many… “Attention Difficulties.” Rushing through the door he crashes into the studio space, lightning bolts and all, as if coming from a hurricane. I was reminded of the convergence of all those streams, the chaos, the noise…all coming to an abrupt stop.

The lesson of the day is learning to shade. Grabbing his pencil, unsettled and noisily, he begins attacking the paper, raking the strokes as if he is angry. Power without purpose is useless. Stepping in the teacher explains the need to use the arm and not the wrist, the essential need to move slowly, paying attention to each stroke. Eventually, I begin to hear the sound of the smoother strokes flowing across the surface…developing into a rhythm that will carry the artist out to sea. Moving away from all of the confusing tensions of the day into a place where the mind is released into freedom.

The student is then shading with consistent fluid strokes. The only sound that is heard is the pencil against the paper with the whispered strokes that say, “well done.” Time no longer exists. There is no worrying over the past and no stressing about the future, only peace exists in the moment of focus. Art is life expressed within the strokes of a pencil, in a simple shading study sketched by a young boy.

The clock struck the hour and the session came to a close. The result was a calm and focused student. Happily the boy tucked his sketchpad under his arm and leaving with his accomplishment of focus, peace, and some beautifully stroked graphite shading, he said, “I really enjoyed this.”
The greatest moments can come if only we remember to take that moment to breathe and let ourselves bring our mind, body, and spirit into focus.

ART IS LIFE EXPRESSED – Michele West

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January 19, 2015 – Dream

Today, January the 19^th, there is a lot of emphasis being placed on having a dream and freedom.

May I always keep the courage to remember my dreams and the responsibility to make each of them a reality. I believe our dreams are our soul’s voice screaming out for more… more life… living beyond merely existing… They are our moments of stepping farther than our situations showed possible. It’s the ability within us to take those long strokes, seemingly, using all of our strength to transport us up and above the water to gain that breath of freedom. Breaking forth from the deep dark waters that would hold us to our end and surfacing, taking that deep breath that empowers us with the ability to LIVE.

We have history to remind us of dreams that became reality. Dreams are powerful tools of progression. May we never forget to be visionaries, dreamers of dreams, may we be not only dreamers of dreams, but those who take on the courage to chase them, catch them and mold them into a world of reality.

Dream, if only for the day, in what may seem small and bring it to pass. Tomorrow you will see that you made your history.

I would like to express a heartfelt “Thank You” to Barbara for inviting me be a part of a place devoted to such great works of good. I enjoy sharing my art and thoughts related to my journey of life as I experience it. As we say here in the studio, “Art is Life Expressed.”

Michele West