THE BEAUTY OF ART

 

In order for us to truly understand the beauty of art – we need to understand what art is and to do this I will unpack the definition a little. The oxford dictionary defines art as, ‘the expression of a creative skill in a visual form.

It can be a painting, with bright and vibrant colours that fill a previously empty space, it could be the creation of an item of clothing never seen before, it could be a piece of literature that inspires or it could be the movement of the body to rhythmic sounds, or to the sound of your inner voice as you meditate. All of these art forms have that one core element of the definition – it is an expression, an outward showing of something.

If we break this down a little more, then lets define,  ‘expression,’ the Oxford dictionary refers to expression as a form of communication, of conveying a feeling. Therefore the most simple definition of art is to me the outward communication of my feelings.

Okay I can see that you are hitting a bit of a wall in your mind and wondering where can I possibly take this – linking the beauty and the art.

How many of you have completed a art and craft project -regardless of the level of skill shown?

Who of you have felt great once you have looked at your own handy work?

I would like you for a second to imagine you are on a completely blank canvas and it stretches in every direction as far as the eye see.  This Canvas is blank, where you start is the point of your birth, and every milestone you achieve through the early development years begins to form and etch a pathway forward, but as you look behind, what was once blank is now filled in. Behind you is woven an intricate network of roots, intertwining and deep and they run back to the beginning of time – and you are connected to that system.

Now look ahead – and as you grow and live your life you are faced with many decisions over time, be these moral, ethical decisions of major consequence or just a basic decision as to whether you will have that 10  min lie in today….each of these decisions will shape your life in some way or the other and alter the direction of the path you will follow, thus changing the trajectory of  your current etchings, but in every truth you learn, in every stumbling block you encounter, in every tear that is shed and every moment filled with laughter, you add to this masterpiece that is your life. You fill the canvas with your emotions and make connections which inter weave and link generations past and generations to come.

I am sure you have all have seen a giant piece of art created on beach or in a crop field and that have made a mandala design the true beauty of which can only be appreciated from an aerial view? Okay most of you…/no then go on to explain briefly.

This is where the beauty in art is and comes into play, you see, ladies and gentlemen, our very lives, every day that we live, we breathe, we cry, we laugh…it is in all these things, that true beauty lies, for the beauty is not always witnessed by the artist themselves for the waves may wash away this piece before it is photographed then the artist never really knows how it turned out, the beauty is not always in the finished product but in the process that it took to create the piece for the process exuberates the beauty and is where the emotion is expressed.

I am sure you have all seen The Karate Kid and can appreciate the ritual that Mr Miagi goes through with each of his Bonsai trees, the leaf by leaf pruning as he imagines the direction of the next shoot. All the way through its life the Bonsai is beautiful, it does not reach a point where it is suddenly beautiful for throughout.

In life and especially in society today, we are so focused on what the world considers beautiful as taken from the aerial view, that we forget to take a step back, we forget to enjoy the here and now of creating that moment and we forget to be present.

I want to challenge you today to be more present in the moment – focus on where you put your energy and when you achieve that focus, stop to admire the beauty in the moment that you have just created by simply affording yourself that opportunity.

It is true, the canvas which started of blank will be filled, and every opening will have a splash of colour and the day will come, that you are able to view this master piece you have created from that aerial view, but until then, the canvas lies before you with many open spaces, so be in control of your masterpiece, live deliberately and embrace the beauty as you create it.

GO CREATE YOUR MASTERPIECE!