Friday, May 6, 2016

Your Lifestyle, Your Art, Your Expression

You've probably seen the pencil artwork I've done of my cookies in the glass stand. I used to bake, you see. A lot. I'm a self-taught homebaker. And I did it not for commercial purposes but as an expression. Half of the fun is searching for the best nuts, best flour, and the best chocolates. Cost was high to, say, bake a batch of cookies kaya tipid na lang in other things like I refrained from buying new clothes and anik aniks. Obviously it was a struggle to keep my weight down so I disciplined myself not to eat too much of what I baked para hindi na ako bibili ng bigger pants haha! 

Anyway, I no longer bake as much, but the need for self-expression is still there. Notice that I draw and color my cookies now haha! But seriously I realized that my passion for art, coloring in particular, has taken over that task. I thrill over good pencil finds, as in! But no, I don't want you to associate coloring to acquiring, after all we can express our love for coloring even with three pieces of colored pencils. 

Anyway for many months now I've been poring over coloring books and coloring away to my heart's delight. 


Today as I trace my journey in the creative arts (which now includes coffee painting and portraiture) I also discovered another expression in the past that I didn't realize wanted to come out until some people expressed delight in what I've done - and I'm talking about redesigning my home. I was on a budget but I didn't want it to restrict my ideas for the look I wanted. My taste in choosing colors and materials came out, another means of self expression. I also had walls and storage areas fabricated for practicality in the use of space. 
 
I believe we do have a need to express ourselves in our little and big choices, after all we only have one life and, I think,  we need to discover and make use of what we have, not so much complain about what we don't. 



Today the private classes I'm conducting have extra inputs in them as well. My first ColorTour class will include a museum visit. Also packaged in the fee is a home-cooked lunch which is my husband's self-expression. The experience is not a mere learning of techniques in drawing and coloring but a way of connecting through our common interest in caring for our well-being. I'm happy that I can offer the kind of class I really want to conduct. 

Artistic expression is not all about pencil, paper and buying all sorts of materials, it is a philosophy of living harmoniously and productively with our surroundings and other people, and most especially of putting our God-given talent to good use.

Watch out for another type of self-expression class that I'm putting together and will be offering soon with another partner. 

*My right side of the brain has REALLY taken over, I really need to improve my language and writing skills haha!


 

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