I’ve been learning a lot lately about blogging and keeping up my website. One of the suggestions was to create a regular feature. So, Midweek Art is my new feature. It may not always be posted every week on Wednesday or Thursday, but it’ll happen regularly enough to be a feature. I’ll have tutorials, maybe point you in the direction of some great artists, share some of my work, or just muse on art.

People talk about sleep deprivation, caffeine deprivation, and grandchild deprivation. They mean that there is something normally in their life, or that should be in their life, and it is not there. Their body reacts to the loss in different ways. For me, art is a part of my life. I’m married to a photographer. We go out and take pictures of people creating art. As a writer, I create art in written form. I actually had a member of an art gallery think that my books should be in the gallery as art. With writing, I’m now doing digital art for marketing. Most of my graphics are done by me. I’m learning how much work goes into digital art. I also draw.

My sister introduced art to me when I was a senior in high school. She brought home some school art room charcoal pencils and a paper, and we sat down and began to draw. I soon picked up a mini art pad at a local craft store and a few pencils of my own. I drew whatever I could see–mainly landscapes though. Then along came college, marriage, five kids, and a job. No time for drawing. I picked up other forms (crocheting, cross-stitch, quilting, and eventually writing). When I began writing, I began drawing again. As writer’s block set in, I’d pick up the pencils and draw. It helped me form the words and see the world. With practice, my art became better and better.

The last time I picked up a pencil was in December over Christmas break. It was just to do a quick sketch while the family played a game. The last project I finished was back in September! To put this in perspective, in 2010 when I first started drawing again, I had drawn twenty projects. Last year I completed six projects to be proud of. I didn’t think it was a big deal because I’ve produced a number of graphic art for advertising the books. I was wrong.

In January, a student turned in an assignment on a piece of paper that stood out from all the rest. My fingers caressed the soft tooth. The thickness and weight of the creamy whiteness called to me. It begged to have more than some Spanish words hastily scribbled on it. It wanted to be used for art! I sighed and placed the paper on my desk in the pile of other assignments.

Yesterday, I came home from work and marveled at the clouds. Stacked layers filled the sky with grayed lavender, dusty rose, cream, 10% warm gray, and white. Small strokes of the lighter colors smeared across the darker ones. Every so often a hint of blues shown through but not many. My fingers longed to grab my pastels and sweep the strokes of cream and white over the grays. However, other work called to me.

Art is embedded into nature. A love for art calls to all of us. Some can create it; others enjoy seeing it. When we go without art, our lives become dull and lifeless. What art are you working on or enjoying? Let me know in the comments.