I was just reading the Washington Post article via Fulfillment Daily by Maia Gambis, “Why making art is the new meditation.” And yes, yes it is! Though, much like meditation, it isn’t new. But much like meditation, it is greatly needed.

After seeing only the headline I put my coffee on my studio desk, ran to the car to get my laptop so I could write about how art made ME feel. I talked to the neighbor, watered my front yard plants, picked some strawberries, hooked up my laptop, made some raisin bread toast, drank my cold coffee and sat down to read the article.

I told you [almost] everything I did in the course of getting to this point because, again, after JUST reading the headline I got a kick of endorphines. I was happy and greeted my neighbor with a hardy “hello.” I was happy to stand in the hot morning sun and water my plants while beads of sweat started forming. I was ecstatic that I still had some strawberries that the bugs hadn’t eaten off of yet. I was content to drink cold coffee because there was a sort of anticipation about what I was about to read.

As I was reading I googled the people who were quoted. Louise Bourgeois‘ honesty makes me smile, I would have liked to have known her. By the time I die, I hope I leave behind a body of work that says something about who I was. Selfish, but therapeutic.

Eckart Tolle offers the kind of teachings that most of my days are spent wondering about.“ All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness…” -Tolle

Much to my dismay the article ended. But what I can see has begun is my ability to deal with my “blue period.”  Which is the artistic world’s red flag that artist’s use to cope with longing and a stress-filled life.

“The deeper the blue becomes, the more strongly it calls man towards the infi­nite, awak­ening in him a desire for the pure and, finally, for the super­nat­ural” -Kandinsky

That quote came from an article by Teresa Koester for Schirn Mag which looked at 10 artist’s and their blue periods.

This all comes on the heels of just finishing a series of paintings all done with various blues as the common background. I had found a tube of Ultramarine that hadn’t been used much (gasp!), and once I started incorporating, I couldn’t stop using it.

I was just talking to a friend who has been using nothing but blue in her work. I asked if she was stressed lately. The answer was an emphatic “Yes.”

The blues have been around for a long while. They aren’t going away, and I don’t think we complain about the artistic results from their visit.

I’m embracing my blue period, and thanks to ultramarine, that makes me happy.