Just returned from a big delicious Thanksgiving feast with my family and I have too many blessings to count. Here is a list of things that all artist (visual artists, writers, performers, filmmakers, and all creatives) should be thankful for:
1) You are your own boss
Nobody tells you when, where, or how to make your art. You call the shots and conversely your success and failure is largely up to you.
2) Art is a high calling
You are one of the lucky folks who have a passion. Many people spend their lives doing unfulfilling work and never find their true purpose. For most artists making arts goes beyond just doing something that makes them happy but their art becomes a part of their identity.
3) You see the world differently
Thanks to your beautiful right brain you see things differently. As an artist you will find inspiration in seemingly mundane things. I have always long admired comedians for their ability to make brilliant jokes out of simple observations. For many artists life becomes a muse. Art teaches you to observe life and the world and you can choose to replicate what you see or imagine a different reality. Right now the world needs more people loving, praying and art. More than ever the world needs artists just as much as it needs scientists, and engineers.
4) Great company
Many of the great movements in history are centered around a group of innovative and interesting people. As an artist you are probably in the company of other awesome artists and creative folks who make stuff happen. Nothing great happens in a vacuum. It takes a community of people encouraging and helping each other to make great art and positive things happen.
5) Joy
This should really be self explanatory. Making art is a source of empowerment and joy.
Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy this list!
Iyaláwo or Ìyánífá
the practice of the spiritual path as such is a muti-media event…
coconut shells, toss the shell pieces, do they land up or down
horse tail
bones, roll the bones
pomegrante (apple) under a coconut tree
pieces of peppermint candy on the palms of each hand/symbolize Jesus on the cross
the colors associated with each deity
Saint Rita da Cassia, a nun, Santeria
small antelope from Africa
Elephant with four heads
cowrie shell
bird feathers
cigar smoke
pounding the ground to pull, allow the spirit to rise up
so many traditions survived, one spirit at a time, divination, Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, New Orleans
when I saw Yemaya you touched my heart
these traditions have survived in the New World for over 400 years and go much deeper in meaning in Africa and Bhutan
Animism, belief in innumerable spiritual beings concerned with human affairs and capable of helping or harming human interests
animism the belief in the spirit in all that lives, botanica, even rocks have spirit.
Go deeper child, include more media from the activity and your art will become a meaningful source, you have a feeling for it… in the colors, names of the deities, and the beautiful images of the cowrie shell, cloth and gentle faces of people.
research pictures of old mambas from MCIIHENNY CO tabasco sauce, of Avery Island Louisiana, and the Blue Dog Artist, George Rodrigue from the same area. MCIIHENNY used to have an old blue tick coon dog, and ran a plantation, still does, harvesting chili peppers to make his sauce…. somewhere in all of that the learning rhythm of the Caribbean mambas began to influence the growth of this very old community…. and they are good spirits dancing in the wind.
The path is pure, followed, and holds truth, and your art touches the energy of Caribbean Animism.
Many Blessing From someone who felt it in my feet.