ABC of self-deception

digital painting Scattered Seeds ~ Tomas Karkalas; Klaipeda, Lithuania

The mushrooms grow and have the same taste everywhere, yet while moving from country to country the approach to the gathering of the ‘Edible Boletus’ differs greatly. The Lithuanians love the mushrooming  – the wandering around the woods,  but it‘s otherwise in Sweden or Germany . Many gather the delicious “wood-bread” only in the shops there.

The same relate to the fine arts. The colors please each eye, yet radiate the different message – the same image means different things in different countries , but we muse about the global impact of the fine arts on our cultures.  Is that not the ABC of self-deception?

I like to paint, but what does that mean? How to relate my emotions to the current worldevents?
I don’t know the picture that changed though some in our daily living needs ,
but still create my visual stories nevertheless.

art therapy prompt: what is the meaning?

art therapy prompt – unknown author

A pile of drawings lay on a table in a wait of the somebody attention. I had to choose what to pic up to represent the art therapy class for people with the psychiatric disorders. That was the hard task because each picture had its own charm, but ultimately the image you see on above made my choice. These lines attracted me, and I made a shot. Now I had to say something, to explain the cause of my interest. Thus I recalled the quote:

„It is not what we receive but what we give that heals us.“ ~ Richard P. Evans

What we give…

How would I respond?!

THAT was the meaning of the picture, so I put down my camera and clasp in my arms the mentally ill fellows.
Dear blogger, what’s about you? Please Share your thoughts on what this image means to you.

Everyone likes a good word –
Share Art therapy Drawings with your Friends.
People with psychiatric disorders would greatly appreciate your likes.

Kiss of Art Therapy

The photography “kiss of art therapy” by Tomas Karkalas from Klaipeda, Lithuania

Life lessons are wasted if they are not passed on.

While looking at this waterbird I saw not a work of a sculpture but the embedded process of its creation. That must be something like example to follow to us , I think. Have a look at the photo that was taken in the mental hospital . Not pain but love melted into the ceramics there , and that brought a smile to my face. Therefor I took a photo . I didn’t know its author, but one thing was the obvious: people with the psychiatric disorders were the bearers of love .

As art therapy relate to mental health , so it is the hospital activity that involves the patients with various disabilities , but I’m convinced that we all could benefit from it. Art therapy visitors are the patients who do not name themselves the artists, they just pug the love. Is that not a dream of all humanity?

Paulo Coelho said „When I had nothing to lose, I had everything. When I stopped being who I am, I found myself“

What is behind the bars?

documentary photograph „Copy of Copy“ ~ from a cycle „art therapy works“ by Tomas Karkalas from Klaipeda, Lithuania

I guess you wonder how this magic shot was taken, so here is a story.
While wandering around my town I came to the scenery that could not pass by. A huge stump stopped me. I was stopped not by the tree but its remnants. They looked like the portrait of me, therefore I didn’t fear the bars that dangled in front of the passersby anymore. The door stood waiting for me and I stepped in.  I entered an art therapy room where people with psychiatric disorders were sitting around the table and drawing a sun.

Wow! Love inhabited a tiny room: the lights of the lovely drawings on the dark walls and this handicraft on a table dazzled me. I took my camera and stuff for a sharing such way appeared.

Life behind the bars did not allure, but the works of mentally ill sat me in awe. The documentary photograph „Copy of Copy“ stands like a sentinel over the sunbeam. It pleases the eye but does not allow me to close in the self-satisfaction amidst the fellow artists.

„It is not what we receive but what we give that heals us.“ ~ Richard P. Evans

Thought to ponder

serenity

The heaviest load is easier to carry than the unspoken thought. 

This truth reveals the necessity of sharing for remaining alive

That is why it is so important for artists to display their paintings.
That is why Antoine de Saint- Exupery rhetorically asks who he is if not a participant?
And concludes :
– In order to be, I must participate.

Freedom to choose

Freedom to Choose 2005

My wish to take part in life affairs was wrapped into a piece of art, and I exhibited my emotions. The show had success but that did not change the reality. The consciousness did not change anything outside my window. The people chose not a pearl of wisdom but the obedience to the strict rules of life. Does that mean human freedom to choose and decide is only the words?

No. Such a conclusion would be equal to judging in a hurry. The situation alarmed only at first glimpse. Soon I relaxed in a shop. There were lots of people too, and they all rejoiced at the freedom to choose what to buy. They all delighted in the fruits of their decisions and thus rehabilitated human rights to freedom to choose.

when dark thoughts will afflict you next time, just look around and visualize the passersby as the letters of the book of life. What would you read then?

The light becomes tangible if the heart is publicly voiced and we sign our response

Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused ~ Bruno Gideon

The light becomes tangible if we publicly voice the heart and sign our response

wish for freedom

digital painting Unsettled Silence by Tomas Karkalas from Klaipeda, Lithuania

The fenced-in dog barks at the one running free

This thought has drawn the need of response because of the analogy with myself:
the fenced-in = the living with the limiting status of the diagnosis  psychiatric disorders,
barks of the dog = my musing on life.
So the barking of the fenced-in embeds
a search for freedom is the unknown concept to the running free
despite the beauty of our reasoning.
So what is a place of the fine arts in our life?
The questions started a search for truth yet melted away while viewing the images created by Lithuanian artist Tomas Karkalas.