Art and Happiness

Hi everyone! What a wonderful weekend I had! On Friday night I went to the park with my friends Sergii and John, the weather was beautiful, so warm! On Saturday I went for brunch to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Very cute place with beautiful lake and a lot of fun gift shops. For my friend Sally's birthday we decided to wear hats. We pretended that we were celebrating queen's birthday, ha-ha. It was so much fun!

On Sunday I just decided to spend some time at home. I woke-up yesterday at 5am because I needed to go for a run before my trip and Lake Geneva is about 80 miles away from Chicago where I live, and I got back home around 9pm. So I really needed some time for myself to get things done and get ready for a week. I can smell my upcoming lunch right now, I am making soup with salmon and vegetables, so yummy! This morning I ate some French crepes and now I am feeling like I need to balance them out with something very healthy.

Okay, enough about me! Let's talk about art and how it can help us to be happier!

Here is the link to the video for today's article (it has funny blooper at the end): Art and Happiness.

Today I want to share with you what I think about two paintings and about art in general.

The first painting was created in 1929 by Belgian artist René Magritte. the painting is called "The Treachery of Images", but it also has the name "This is not a pipe". I don't think I can use images of paintings without permission so here is the link to it: Ceci n'est pas une pipe. On this painting artist portrayed a pipe, and at the bottom he literally wrote "This is not a pipe", "Ceci n'est pas une pipe". And it was true, it wasn't a real pipe, it was just an image of a pipe, and you couldn't take this image and stuff tobacco in it. And I love this painting because it reminds me of my own thoughts. They can look very realistic sometimes, and they can create images of my future. But the same way as Magritte's pipe was not real, my thoughts are just images. So when you have some unpleasant thoughts, when you get too much sucked into your ideas and want to get back to present moment, to reality, please tell you yourself "this is not a pipe". I personally prefer French version "Ceci n'est pas une pipe", just because it sounds cute, but it doesn't matter. What is important, is a reminder that whatever images we have in our mind, are not real, and we don't have to be afraid of them. By the way, I recommed you to check out other paintings created by surrealist Magritte, I think he had very interesting vision and his artwork can help to be more creative and it also wakes up some curiosity.

The second painting that I want to talk about was created by another amazing artist Ivan Aivazovsky in 1873. It is called "The Rainbow". On this painting you can see the storm and sailors who are trying to get through it. They struggle and for sure are very tired and probably scared. But they can see the rainbow and this rainbow is like a sign that storm will come to an end and they will see a beauty of clear sky. It is a representation of a hope and a reminder that nothing lasts forever and after we suffer, we discover something beautiful. What I also find interesting about this painting, is the story that Aivazovsky ordered black frame for it. He usually used golden frames, but he decided, that the rainbow will look better in contrast with black color. And I think of it as of a metaphor. We can have some difficult events in our lives, some trauma, if you will. And these events are like black frames for our rainbows. If everything was perfect in life, the rainbow wouldn't be so bright. But when we go through difficulties, we learn how to appreciate beauty of life, we learn how to pay attention to it. So when you go through some difficulties, please remember about this painting, remember, that storm will not last forever and when it is over, you will see beautiful rainbow and you will enjoy it much more!

I think that art in general can help to be happier. You can view masterpieces created by talented artists. And you can also use art to let out your own energy. I have problems with my hormones sometimes. Maybe I will make a post about it one day. Today I don't want to go too deep into details. I just want to say that hormones affect the brain and their effect can be pretty significant, to the point when it is hard to control yourself. And when I have these moments, I get very scared. In the past I was trying to seek for protection from wrong people, when I was in the state of fear. And I only hurt myself more. Now I understand how my body works, how my brain reacts, so I control myself much better. I still have this discomfort once in a while and it is very strong. But I noticed that creativity and art can help to release it. I wasn't feeling well the other day, so I took some color pencils and just drew whatever I was experiencing.

I wasn't thinking, I was just letting out my emotions. And when I was done with my doodling, I felt much better. It helped me not to do anything stupid, and at the same time not to suppress emotions. My drawing didn't look like a piece of art, it was actually funny, I think when I was three years old, I could draw better. But it helped me to see my emotions from the side and get detached from them. It can be very therapeutical.

So next time when you get stressed because of your own body and some biological activities within your brain, think of the way you can let go this negativity through art. It can be dance, poem, story, drawing, painting, music, song, etc. Whatever you feel like doing. Try it, you will see how powerful art is! And who knows, maybe you will be able to create some masterpiece and one day someone will be writing a post about it in their blog.

Please take care of yourself.

Be Strong And Love Yourself!

From Dasha With Love!

Love Wins!

PS: in the end I wanted to share some photos from my friend's BDay. My drink didn't have any alcohol :-)