ART SPEAKS TO ME
Mine is a creative spirit and art is my passion. Whether I’m drawing, painting, writing a poem or a song, I love the creative process.
Art has been my best friend, my gentle teacher, my healer, my spiritual barometer. There never has been a problem I could not solve or a feeling I could not express through art. The things I draw or create are simply expressions of my soul. I draw from the inside out. And because this is so, the images can be dark and bold in their intensity, or light and ethereal depending on what is being expressed. Each time I face a blank canvas, it’s a journey into the unknown. I never know where it’s going to take me. That’s why I love what I do so much. I get caught in its mystery.
The poems or songs I write come from somewhere else. Like butterflies they flutter around in my head before they crystallize on paper. They are a joy to write.
When art comes through me, rather than from me, it’s simply the best. It’s a gift. It flows out of me perfectly and effortlessly.
Sometimes the images I have drawn or the poems I have written, have moved me to tears because of the truth they reveal. But always the truths that art reveals to me are revealed in such a gentle way; never judging, simply showing.
Art speaks to me. Sometimes loudly and sometimes gently. Like the drawing of Mary. I drew Mary soon after the end of my second marriage. That is when the journey inwards began for me. Feeling devastated at yet another failed relationship after twelve years, living alone and having three little children to care for, I found solace in my art. Mary’s gentle loving gaze drew me in instantly. I felt I could talk to her and I did. It was as though my mother’s spirit had come through to tell me that she loved me and that not to worry, all would be alright. I wrote a poem about the drawing of Mary in my book, “Maria’s Song: A Survivor’s Journey of Hope & Healing.”
And a few years later, as I was healing inside, and the images were becoming less dark, light even, I drew an image of a baby angel looking up towards the heavens. To my delight she looked just like me when I was little. I recognized her spirit as being my very own. After all that hard inner work, I had found my soul’s treasure. I wrote about this image as well in “Maria’s Song” - in a poem I called: “Angel of Joy.”
I have received many inspirational messages through my art which have helped me immensely in my life. They deepen my faith, restore my soul and lift my spirits.
In conclusion:
Through the creative process I can take a negative experience and turn it into something positive - like a work of art.
Through the creative process, my faith is renewed.
Through the creative process, I have gone within and ever since, have never gone without.
Yes, art speaks to me, and when it does, I listen.
Maria Tzanis