Last Friday I started a new thing. I asked a question to people who see my art on Instagram. I really want to engage in more conversations about art, so I thought I will just post a question. I asked "How does my art make you feel?" At first I couldn't decide on the best question to ask, but then I remembered this whole past month in my Studio Notes I've been writing about emotions evoked by Art. So I just went with the first question that came to my mind... How does my art make you feel? I added the image of the completed 100 days series, Trees and Windows from this past year to the Instagram post. At first I thought this question was too selfish and I really didn't want it to be all about me. But then I realized all these questions are really a way of giving people a chance to think and talk about art which includes my art. It's about dialogue. It's about connection to someone else who thinks about art and color and design as a creator or a consumer of art. It's amazing how quickly people responded and how thoughtful their comments were. I was blown away and very grateful.
People said my art made them feel happy, joyful, energized, motivated, serene, and alive when they saw my art. It doesn’t get better than that. Mission complete. I want my art to be a force for good in the world. Who knew a simple question and the thoughtful responders could make me realize that I am on the right track with my art. As I wrote in one of my Studio Notes a few months ago, Happy people help make a happy world.
Some people who are artists themselves said that my art inspires them with my use of color and space. Awesome! I responded to one of my artist friends that I believe there is a karma thing going on with artists who support and inspire each other to make more art. It is one of the reasons I share my art and writing with others.
Some of the comments were literally about the images that I put on my post. Many thought the Windows piece on the left was calming, peaceful, and warm while the Trees series on the right was energizing and playful. Several people responded all with the same emotions from each piece of art. It says a lot about the power of color and design working together.
Sometimes warm colors provide lots of energy and movement, but in the case of the Windows piece, one insightful person said the grey frames around the horizontal lines and the horizontal lines themselves have a calming effect. So it is not always just the colors used. Another commenter thought the usually calm cool colors of the Tree piece was almost frenetic but it was all about the design and the white tree trunks in jagged lines that had that effect on them. This was all so very thought provoking.
It was a good day Friday, feeling that my art was an influence for good in the world.
So now I'm calling it Friday questions. I plan to continue and already thinking about questions for this coming Friday.
Feel free to share any questions you think would be interesting for future Fridays.
If you are a subscriber who is not on Instagram, don’t feel left out. You can email me your responses to the questions. The more the merrier.