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Dear Artist,

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The world is a place where change is constantly creating new experiences, and for most this can cause stress. Stress sends the artist down one of two roads, one being to rescind from life and its challenges into an isolated space, or the second, taking the challenge head-on and overcoming whatever obstacle CHANGE is creating. Choosing the latter, despite what’s going on around you, I can share from experience, will offer the most reward to you and others.

 

In other words, painting through a crisis can end the crisis even faster. Creation takes the problem and transforms it into something of value. Even if it is only an element of learning, the process of understanding gained is worth while. Each time I try something new and think, “That was a bad idea!” I’ve learned something which makes the failure a step in the right direction. When we find out what not do it leads us to down the right road eventually by process of elimination.

 

Most artists are used to stress and making art comes naturally as a way to overcome a challenge. Vincent van Gogh once said, “I am always doing what I cannot do yet. In order to learn how to do it.” Stress comes from not knowing how to deal with a situation. We should follow Van Gogh’s advice and just plunge forward, learning while we go.

 

When life gets hard I often think of other artists who use their experiences to make powerful pieces of art. A perfect example of this is Frida Kahlo who said, “I never painted dreams, I painted my own reality.” PBS takes a look at her piece, The Two Fridas, and shares what she lived with and overcame during her lifetime, found in this video HERE.

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Frida’s work was locked away after her death for 50 years in her family home that she lived in with Diego Rivera in Mexico City. Find out more about her life, art legacy, and items recovered from this house HERE.

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Painting yourself into your work just as Frida Kahlo has done, but in your own way will enable you to drive through change with a full throttle. 

 

Happy racing,

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Uncle Salvador

 

 

 

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