Our lives tend to be fairly linear following an ingrained and patterned series of actions. School tends to reinforce these patterns. When we declare our major it is assumed we are finally charting our own, personal course. We know however that societal ‘grooves’ are hard to deviate from. Soon even our chosen vocation itself becomes a highly patterned and linear way of living. 
It is only with great effort do we discover our true passions that give our personal lives meaning and value and purpose. Life no longer is no longer along a straight line but our experiences begin to waver up and down from typical linear patterns. We continue on with our jobs and our vocations and in one sense everything is the same, we are following the same patterns. But there is now an inner spark and an inner purpose that begins to gain precedence. We begin to make choices and decisions out of a personal relationship with this new personal precedence. We feel alive.
For some the choice is artistic expression and it takes many forms. Dance, music, painting, writing, sports and horticulture are some of the more commonly known means of artistic expression. These activities begin to grow and expand as we get older providing our senior years with a degree of fullness and satisfaction. Authentic artistic expression is when we are expressing ourselves most honestly – when we are not just copying established forms. It could even be said that artistic evolution for ourselves as persons is very much about learning to be authentic.
We admire artists of the past such as Van Gogh, Cezanne, Picasso and Kandinsky because they seemed to be painting (for the most part) honestly and authentically. This is not always easy to accomplish but ultimately brings the most joy and a sense of accomplishment. As I have often said in these series of articles, Abstract art which comes from an inner resource is an important medium for expressing our personal selves. By painting abstractly we can very effectively break free from those ingrained social patterns and begin to express our emotions and responses in ways that are in harmony with our own inner perceptions. It is this ‘fine-tuning’ of our perceptions that will lead to an enhanced artistic experience and even to great art.
