Hello everyone out there in the Do Art Nation!
We hope that all of your creative projects have been going well, and that you continue to bring that awesome wacky creative energy that makes you YOU to the world. We are SUPER excited because we are bringing Do Art to libraries across Missouri and New York. I will be down in St. Louis doing workshops at the St. Louis County Library from Wednesday to Saturday, while Mr. Dairy keeps bringing the energy to New York at the Keene Valley Library.
As I get ready for my trip down to St. Louis, I’ve been taking some time to do something that I very much enjoy, but often neglect: playing the piano! I’ve been playing since I was six, and I learned to play the piano on a piano gifted to me by my grandmother. She would often babysit my younger brother and I, and we both loved sitting at the piano, playing around with the keys, making wild sounds for the fun of it. After watching the movie The Goonies, in which the ability to play the piano is an important key to unlocking One-Eyed Willie’s treasure, my grandmother gifted us her piano, and I’ve been playing it ever since.
But between traveling for workshops, making brand new comics, and pursuing creative projects of all kinds, it has been hard to find the time to play it recently. Oftentimes in our creative journeys, we will put aside one particular medium or mode of expression. This is because of physical or time constraints, and sometimes it is just because our inspiration leads us to pursue other pursuits. These are a necessary, and even rewarding part of life.
But, as Buddhist teacher Sharon Salzberg has said, the joy is in the return. When we find our way back to the passions and creative modes of expression that we enjoyed when we were younger, we often feel this deep sense of affinity and connection with the person that we were, and a great sense of gratitude to them for the person that we have become.
Look forward to seeing some more videos of me playing the piano coming up soon. What art form are you excited to take up again? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to keep creating!
