Making Art Personal

This week has been very.. well, I'm not sure what a word for it is. Basically, in a nutshell, several distant relatives over the last month have been suffering some pretty severe medical problems. While, yes, I could recognize that it was a sad situation, it did not completely affect me. However, over the last two weeks, my Grandpa (who may as well be my Dad) has contracted a bacteria or virus or something. In a two week's time, he went from running daily outside to being out of breath just from walking across the room to having to use an oxygen tank just to function. This morning, he went into surgery so hopefully the Docs could figure out what's going on and fix it. My Grandpa is normally a healthy person who has never smoked. He hasn't had any history of asthma or any other breathing issues. This sudden change is very difficult for my entire family. It just isn't him.

So, back to the idea of art, I have learned this week just how much our daily lives affect what we do in both life and art. It affects how we think and how we release our feelings and thoughts. I mean, especially lately with all of these "portrait" and "self-portrait" projects that I've been getting (which have conveniently been at least three within these trying two weeks)--when taken seriously, they really force you to confront how you feel. It forces you to have to confront the reality that someone you love will die. And it may not happen peacefully in their sleep. I could always understand how art is supposed to be theraputic for the mind, but I've never actually tried. It's kinda funny how after I started, I couldn't seem to do much of anything without incorporating my feelings about all of this. I think it gives the art a greater meaning. A bigger purpose. To me, I think that feeling of intimacy is also relayed to the viewer. Maybe artists should be chronically tormented for the sake of the public... I mean, look at what happen to Van Gogh.

-Aerica