There is something about Art that brings people together. Particularly amongst artists there is a common ground of recognising each other's process of passing everything through your heart after it comes out of your head.
A humanising filter, the vulnerability of making your emotions visible and opening your heart. Pretty scary actually and quite a process. Not surprisingly therefore a great conversation topic at the table where we all shared our lunch at the Heart for Arts Event in Marbella, Spain on 28 & 29th of May.

For whom do you make Art? is another good topic. Although believing that making art from your heart should be the only way to stay true to your own convictions, is in fact not a guarantee for success. Clearly integrity becomes a lot easier once there is some sort of recognition. Because, as Martin Stellar states, the days of aspiring to being a starving artist as the only way of staying true to oneself, are over. Not that they have seized to exist, mind you. But it has become clear that starving, doesn’t do your art any favour.  The importance of art, of beauty, for its own sake is becoming increasingly essential in sterile, brick, city environments for the sterile and brick minds.

So yes, let’s have a great mural by George Kowzan by MacDonalds, sculptures by Lieuwke Loth in communal gardens, symbolic messages in the paintings by Anouk Slegers, hidden truths in the photographs of Mena Sambiasi and inspiring emotions in the portraits of Paul Arts. 
Art is a human necessity, an inspiration for the senses which are otherwise overloaded with facts & figures. Artists deserve to get paid for what they contribute. Agnes Torok is becoming an inspiration for her generation for not accepting the gradual shift that we are all part of by becoming so preoccupied with finding a “job” that we may end up living a life which is unfulfilled and uninspired. 
There is no shame in keeping yourself financially alive as an artist, in fact you are doing the whole world an enormous favour by feeding starving souls.

​The event was a great success for the artists for precisely that reason. Coming together and realising that we are all fighting the same battles and that it is time to stand up and do something about it. Learning from each other not only by sharing painting techniques but also by planning joint events and connecting on a personal level. 

I have subscribed to Martin Stellar’s newsletter for “ambitious creators”, a refreshing approach to turning your passion into a business. I have pledged Agnes Torok via Patreon which is a great crowdfunding way to support artists financially so that art can continue to be accessible to everyone (check Agnes here  on Youtube).
What will you do to make your own art or other people’s more accessible?

Have a good think about it and then do something. And for those of you thinking “I’m not an artist!”... have a look at “The Icarus Deception” by Seth Godin in which he says: “Being an artist isn’t a genetic disposition or a specific talent. It’s an attitude we can all adopt. It’s a hunger to seize new ground, make connections, and work without a map. If you do those things you’re an artist, no matter what it says on your business card.”
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So, go make some art.

For lack of a social life, Twitter was my best friend for those first months. It was a great way to find inspiration for new initiatives, meet people working on interesting projects and contact businesses for possible job opportunities.

It soon became apparent that, in spite of being trilingual, a business owner, hard worker, life learner, leader, having a university education, initiative, amazing social skills AND a sense of humour that my age seemed to work against me. Not that anybody ever told me that but I did have to draw that conclusion for lack of anything else that made sense.

In all honesty I should add that I only applied to jobs that I thought I could do without being suicidal within a week -which rules out supermarket cashier and bookkeeping- but I even responded to receptionist & bookstore sales positions. So no arrogance on my part.