Monday, May 30, 2011

Your art. Your inspiration.

What are your goals? What are your passions? Where do you see your talents best served?
These were some questions posed to me this weekend by a very good friend who's opinions I highly value and accept with my whole heart. I will be honest however, my head was spinning and I was taken aback when posed with these questions as I have just started off on my latest path into teaching children's yoga. I've dove head first into my yoga practice and I love love love every second of it. It brings me joy and fills me in a way I haven't been filled in quite sometime. I am happy - with the choice I have made, with the way I spend my everyday, with the support I am able to offer, with the gift of this practice I can share with children. I am on the right path for certain.

Then she asked, Have you lost sight of your art?
To that I answer no. While I don't get to create as much as I would like to, as much as I used to - outside of a crate here and a mural there, I believe I am always in the artist frame of mind no matter what I am doing. She remembers me in college as someone who was always in the studio or on the floor creating my next project. It used to pour out of me. Now I find myself in another kind of studio and yet I am able to see the parallel. There is art in my life no matter what I am type of studio I am in.
Art, like many things, like yoga, is a practice. It is constant. It is everywhere. You live it, you breathe it, it is part of you. The things you are born with will never leave you. It is a gift you hold that grows with you - constantly evolving - ever changing.
Recently it comes in spurts - I get inspired and I want to create. These days, as life has gotten busy and as I adjust to this new route, it has been inside a journal of personal exploration. It comes in small sketches and words unspoken. It is small and that is okay. Right now, it is what it is and I trust it is right where it should be.
And just when I have the need for more, I stumble upon some great inspiration...tonight I've found Aelita Andre. She is a 3 year old professional abstract painter from Australia. Next month she will be holding a solo show in NYC...and it won't be her first solo show. I am in awe.
Watching this video below (several times), you can see there is more then just playing with paint that is happening here. I see something there that I've seen in very few children as I've watched them create their own art (as I often include art in my children's yoga classes). There is true comfort in what is being created - a sense of non-attachment to the outcome - seemingly no fear of judgement - an abundance of acceptance. It is not forced. It is accepted as is. It is right where it should be. It is beautiful.