How Sorrow and Happiness Affect Art

Though I'm not a musician, I appreciate music.  And I tend to think music and lyrics put together have the ability to speak to the heart in the way simple prose cannot. 

I tend to gravitate toward music that is pretty weighty and deals with heartbreak and lost love.  I've always been that way.  Of course, I love an uptempo song as much as the next person, but I think the most powerful words come through sorrow.

I imagine that writing a song from the heart and performing it heals a lot of wounds.  Maybe that's what this blog does for me.

Not that I have wounds that need healing.  I don't have many problems in life and I thank God for that.  Jarred and I can pay our bills, though we must be careful with our money.  That's not a real problem.

Jarred and I live in a lovely town house that I am in the slow process of decorating.  My parents let me take my bedroom suite when I moved out of the house.  Jarred and I bought a really nice, sturdy, expensive couch and matching armchair for our living room.  We don't have the income to buy and take care of a home at this point.  That's not a real problem.

I am getting to go back to school and study something I'm passionate about.  I have a husband who wants me to have every opportunity in the world to succeed.  I get to take classes and truly enjoy it.  We'll rack up my student loans on top of Jarred's.  That's not a real problem.

Maybe I love sad songs because inside me there is a tortured artist waiting to burst forth.  Sometimes I feel that because I grew up in a happy home, had a happy childhood, and have a happy life, there's no feeling for me to express through art, be it in mediums such as photography, or paint, or simply pen or pencil.  Van Gogh was the epitome of a tortured soul and look how famous he is, though it was mostly after death that he gained notoriety.  I don't know of too many happy artists.

So can I be that one?

That's something I've always struggled with artistically.  I'm happy.  So what do I have to say to the world?  The art world seems to thrive on the weird of Orlan, the controversy for controversy's sake of Andres Serrano, and the 'un-art' of Damien Hirst.  So where would I fit in with all those people?

I wouldn't.

I say yes to a new movement of happy art that truly speaks from the soul.

Because that's what I want to do.

Man, I hope I can express all that in a tapestry.  But I will learn.  And I will always have my own little world of my photography.

I must remember though that these controversial artists are the ones that get attention but don't get respect.  And possibly don't deserve it.  In my first painting class, we weren't asked to recreate anything by Chris Ofili (thank goodness).  We were asked to take cues from Matisse and Rousseau and El Greco.  Those are artists that will be remembered forever.

This goes for everything in life.  There may be people who achieve fame who don't deserve it.  But I take comfort in the fact that 100 years from now, children will still be learning about Martin Luther King Jr, but won't have an inkling what a Kardashian is.  There may be people you know personally who don't deserve the recognition they've gotten.  I sure do.  But I don't concern myself with it because in the end, those people will more than likely falter and the true stars will shine.  Those who deserve to be seen and heard will be.  And will be remembered for it.