The One-A-Day Art Vitamin

Almost none of us get enough art in our daily diet.  That’s why we need to start taking art vitamins.  I recommend the One-A-Day Art Vitamin which comes in whichever form of art you happen to prefer.  

Do you like to sing, dance, or play a musical instrument?  Spend half an hour doing one of those things.  Even listening to recorded music can qualify.

Perhaps you enjoy the visual arts?  Drawing, painting, coloring, collage — all are easy to do in short bursts.

You might prefer another activity from woodwork to knitting to gardening.  Go for it!

And if words are your tool of choice, you can always read, write, versify, or journal.

Before social media insinuates itself into your unthinking brain and puts all kinds of inhibiting ideas in it, tell yourself quite plainly that you’re taking art vitamins for your artistic health and not for the entertainment of others.  

And then get started. Creativity is not a luxury and nor is self-expression a frill.  Believe it or now, we need both to get through life as happy, well-adjusted human beings. So don’t delay! Take a One-A-Day Art Vitamin today.

Photo credit: Aw1792300, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Why We Need To Practice Creative Expression

4/30/2011

For decades now, it’s been impressed on us moderns that art is a frill, unnecessary and usually unaffordable.  This view has always struck me as patently wrong, but I’ve never had a ready answer for it until now.  You can try to explain why art is not a frill, or you can simply answer the question “What would life be like without art?”

If you’re really strict with yourself and strip out every form of art there is, you may start to see what a gift art can be — a gift of joy, beauty, inspiration, and pleasure. Read More