Go to art class

Go to art class, learn to paint I hear you say – anyone can paint. I say – go to hell. How dare you sum up a heart wrenching painting by saying anyone can paint? What do you know of the emotion that went into painting that piece you sneer at? You! You are shallow and wave your money around because you think anything and everything can be bought for a price. How would you know that pieces of my soul transferred onto that canvas; pieces of memories dripped onto the paint; some of my tears ran down the canvas? You! You know nothing of discovering yourself through the creative process. You wave your money and sit on a couch, paying your well known psychologist to listen to your shallow complaints.



Go to art class then! Dip your brush in the paint and see if you can feel what I feel. How can you? You have not walked in my shoes, felt what I felt, discovered what I have discovered. Art is but a piece of me, my name on the canvas means nothing compared to the complexities people like you create. My name is but a whisper in the vastness of the Universe. So paint your pretty pictures, hang them in your living room and pretend to feel what I feel. Shallow! Your grave is shallow, filled with nothing. People will not remember you because you attended art class! No one will remember my name either, but I have lived a simple life. I have experienced the connection with my paint brush; it has become my lover, my worst enemy, my best friend! Through it I have discovered emotions you only read about in your fancy book club meetings. I have felt in ways you can only dream about. My emotions had enlightened me to plains in the Universe you know nothing about. My universe is not connected to yours, my life is my own, my art is not yours – your eyes see what your mind permits you to see. My eyes are free.


Note to reader: This was written in (somewhat angry) response to a remark overheard of a person telling her companion that she should go to art class “because anyone can paint” while they were briefly viewing the exhibition.

Frances Lozear "How do I hold you with broken hands" Oil on canvas

 (This piece has stirred many people, even made some cry!)