art

3 Reasons Why Art is My Therapy

| Whitt’s End Art

In my 60 plus years on this earth I have discovered one truth, well besides the fact God is alive and well, life is a rollercoaster. One day your climbing the hill and every thing looks good from the top but once you reach the pinnacle and the car your riding in clicks and heads down the steep hill things can change quickly. It is on these days I lean on God but I also get out my drawing pad and some for on pairing medium and commence to creating. While I don’t consider my art to be anything special there are three reasons art is my therapy.

1. Creating is calming. Sitting down at a table in your hand and a drawing pad or picture to color is calming. There is something about sitting there that make you feel peaceful. Maybe it is because of my second reason.

2. Art is time filling. When you art tome seems to fly by. Some call this the left brain/right brain switch. I call it the joy of creating. From the moment you .ay down the first line of a drawing to the moment you see the finished painting it is time well spent. Which leads to the third reason I like art as a therapy.

3. The finished drawing brings joy to the heart. When you look down at what you have created it brings such a peace and joy to your heart that at times I wonder if this what God thought when He created everything then stood back and said “This is good.” Art is a process and while the start of any pieces of art is exciting to me, the end is where I get the most satisfaction.

These are the three reasons art is good therapy for me and could be for you. I am not an art therapist but if you want to email me I would be glad to talk to you about how you can get started.

#436 Little Green Church

| Whitt’s End Art

One day my son sent me a picture of some churches someone had painted on some wood. I have not done much in the way of using wood as a canvas so I decide to some on 6×9 white drawing paper. This is the second one I have done in soft pastel and colored pencil. I like these small churches because most of the ones i would see in visits in my home state of West Virginia were small churches. Now I know however the church is like any other house it is not a home until the family moves in and makes it a welcoming place.

#435 A Still Life in Brown

| Whitt’s End Art

I created this drawing using some soft pastels and a pen. The drawing is done on a 6×9 white drawing pad. There are times in life when being playful is allowed even for us who call ourselves a flower of Jesus. I can’t picture Jesus always being serious with the 12 disciples. There had to be times when they kicked back and fun in order to relieve the tension. At least I think they would.

#434 Red Tulips

| Whitt’s End Art

I actually created this picture twice. Once with a yellow background and this one. I like the end result of both. Maybe I have said this before but I love to paint flowers because of the bright colors and the variety. So you will probably see a few more flowers as part of my drawing challenge. I also like flowers because it reminds me that God is a God of colors. Sure he gave us the ability to see balk and white but the beauty in this world is derived from seeing the colors. Do not take this for granted because sadly there are those who cannot see the colors nor see at all. It is up to us as God’s called to interpret the colors for others by being there to provide in any little way possible.

#433 Little Red Flowers

| Whitt’s End Art

I have been creating a series of 5×7 paintings of which Little Red Flowers is the latest. The painting is done in color pencil and soft pastels on card stock. I started doing these paintings because I think creating small art pieces is technically more challenging than creating a larger piece of art. Creating small paintings also get you from start to finish in less time so it helps me to learn new techniques faster. We called by God not to be the greasiest but to be attentive to the small things because it is in the small things where we grow and flourish as a followers of Jesus.

#432 Macaroons or Macarons

| Whitt’s End Art

As an artist certain things catch you eye and you feel compelled to render them in one for or another. These small piles of macarons were colorful and I felt like trying my hand at drawing them. While I am somewhat satisfied with the result I still feel there is more to do.

The painting is done in soft pastel, colored pencil and pen on an 8×11 old book page. Life is sometimes like this painting. There are times in life you pour a lot of time and effort into something only to find the end result is not what you expected. The key to life is trusting in God to guide you so you don’t worry so much about the end result.

#431 Lady in Black

| Whitt’s End Art

The latest in a series I am doing of feau fashion drawings. This one is on an old 8×11 book page. One again I used soft pastels and color pencil to create the design. The picture itself is an abstract of a girl walking on the beach during a sunset. While I am not a beach person I love the beauty of the beach area. All to many times we stay indoors instead of getting out and seeing the beauty of God’s creation. There is so much nature has to offer if only we take the time to look.

#430 Three Houses

| Whitt’s End Art

Back in the day my favorite thing to paint was landscapes. Most of the one I did back then were more realistic than the one here. Today however I like the more whimsical drawings. The more abstract drawings. I don’t know why I just do. Maybe it is because I am older and at times life seems so much more serious I need a little whimsy now and then. Anyway other than maybe a portraiture expect some more whimsical art. Thank you to all those who regularly follow my art work. I really appreciate it. Tell your friends.

#429 Watching the Sunset

| Whitt’s End Art

The painting started out as a soft pastel painting on 6×9 paper painting #1. I then used a photo editing app to create painting #2. I like the end result of both paintings. Life is like these paintings. Any times we set out to create one thing in life and it goes well. Then God, like the photo editing app puts our life through a different filter and we have a much better image (life) than the first one we chose to paint for ourselves.