Art – food for the soul…yum!

Greetings SHOUT! earthlings.

I wanted to write a few words on the art workshop that took place on Saturday 3rd of October. First and foremost, I want to sincerely thank Ally so much for her artistic input and for supplying the art materials on the day and of course for her patience in showing the group how its done! Hats off to you Ally!

I shall set the scene…There were acrylic paints, pencils gallore and blank sheets of paper just waiting to be filled.  Ally showed us an impressionalist painting she had done herself which we were all very impressed by and inspired by this we got to work.

Some of the group decided to try their hand at some cartoon drawing while others did some impressionalist painting. On a little point of interest, Impressionlism started in France in the 1860′s, and the word itself comes from the title of a Claude Monet work,  Impression: Sunrise. Notable painters from this time include Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and (a personal favourite of mine) Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

The afternoon was a great success and I have not had a more relaxed Saturday afternoon in a very long time.  Everyone in the group was in consensus on how chilled out it was. It took me back to when we used to do art on a Friday in primary school! I do not think there is anything quite as therapeutic as sitting down in a comfortable space and doing something creative. It’s good for your soul.  You do not have to be as good as Monet or cut your ear off but taking some time out to dabble in this kind of self-expression can really clear your head.

Recently a friend said to me “imagine a world without the Arts?” That question really got me thinking, could you just imagine a world without music, literature, paintings, or poetry? Scary thought.

I would absolutely love to have another art workshop and a big thankyou to everyone who was involved. I saw some very promising artists in the making amongst our SHOUT! group What can be said only that we are simply a bunch of very, VERY talented people. :)

I would like to leave you with a joke that I feel must be shared and I apologise in advance for it – “Recently a guy in Paris nearly got away with stealing serveral paintings from the Louvre. But, after taking them off the walls and eluding the guards, he was captured only two blocks away when his van ran out of gas. When asked how he could mastermind such a theft and then make such a blunder, he replied: I had no Monet to buy Degas to make the Van Gogh.”

Yes it’s a bad joke but hey it made me laugh!

Niamh