Best Friends for Life

Blog 31

This week, I thought about the blessing of good friends when I pondered creating an artwork reflecting the theme of best friends for the Summer of Creativity Project.

I don’t have a best friend, and the good friends in my life have changed over the years. I lost contact with some good friends over the years. The bonds were not strong enough to keep the friendship going. Sometimes, we connected again more than twenty years later through Facebook and met each other during my visits to Germany.

I still have a couple of friends from my school days, and to some, I feel even closer now than in our youth because we have similar adult experiences and interests. My friends from the language school fall into this category. We have always met whenever I was in Germany. However, our bond has grown even stronger since the start of the pandemic, when we started meeting every Thursday for about two hours.

When I came to Canada, I missed my family and friends. I felt a strong pull towards the German speakers of any organization, but I realized quickly that a common language is not enough for a friendship. Without mutual interests and values, you cannot grow relationships.

Today, I have a core of Canadian friends from many backgrounds, and most share my love for art. Some of them, like my group of Painting Buddies, I met through art organizations, and others became friends after they attended one of my courses.

Being an artist can be very lonely when you immerse yourself in creating art in your studio. Art is a great bonding link when you spend time together on painting outings or within art organizations, sharing your art and skills with others.

However, art can also be a frustrating business when you struggle with your creative process, spend days preparing for shows and come home without a sale. You put your energy into your art, and often the feedback is not what you had hoped to receive. In these hours, your friends are your support system to strengthen your confidence again. I am thankful for the many people who helped me through my doubts when I was ready to stop creating art. Truthfully, even if I had wanted, I probably could not have stopped for long, but the support felt good. Art gives me so much joy and balance when I capture the beauty around me that it has supported me through happy and rough times. It is still one of the best ways to spend my time. Maybe, art is my best friend for live.

What role do friends play in your life? If you would like the support of a creative community, I invite you to the Creative Connection for Artists and Crafters.

P. S.

When I thought about a way to create an artwork on the topic, I thought of a clock showing the different stages of life from childhood to old age and two friends being there for each other through thick and thin. As I began sketching the two girls playing in the sandbox, I soon realized that the page in the "642 Things to Draw" book was too small for this big project.

 

I feel tempted to pick up the theme again on a large canvas. I have to think more about the different stages, one for every number on the clock. It would be a great winter project when nature is too harsh to spend much time outside.