This Is How Art Saved My Life

Channeling my emotions into art helped me survive

art by the author

When I was a child, I used art to tell my story when words hurt too much to carve into being. I flung paint onto the canvas like a madwoman in those days. My voice was slick oil, dusty charcoal, and broken lead smudged into corners. My tears were watercolors, trailing rainbows into taunt linen. Animals of all kinds, real and imagined, were sculpted to life by any pliable medium within my grasp. No errant flower petal, table napkin, or blade of grass was safe from my ever creating and nimble young fingers.

I was young and unafraid of the power of my emotions. I wanted to give them a place to escape. I needed to show the world every good, bad, and ugly emotion there was to feel!

Somewhere along the way, I became numb to my emotions. It’s no coincidence that during this time, I also stopped creating visual art. I also stopped writing and singing. There was no art in my life.

I may never have begun again if not for necessity. I needed money for a family emergency, and I imagined my friends might be interested in purchasing some of my art. They were. I earned all of the…