What moves the Heart?

I have been deeply moved by a number of stories in the news.  Stories of people being heart moved to action.  There was the story of Jessie a teen girl who used the money she had saved up to buy a car to help a badly hurt dog.    Another amazing story about a maintenance worker who while emptying the trash found Patrick, a starved and barely alive dog and found help.  A story about a wolf with neurological damage and people who helped her.
One of the questions I get asked a lot is what makes art...art?  The answer for me, is Love.  Whenever any of us truly Love then whatever we are doing becomes Art.  And this is art that heals....heals who see it, touch it, hear it.  Each of us have a sacred art and when we perform that art the heart of all is moved.  What is your sacred art?

Do you believe giftedness can be passed on by people?

I do.  There were three men who became very important to Michelangelo:
Ghiberti taught Donatello;
Donatello taught Verrocchio;
Bertoldo diGiovanni was taught by all three,
and it was this man, Bertoldo who became Michelangelo's mentor.

The gifts of these men were deposited to Michelangelo's account.
How about you?  What treasures have been passed on to you by gifted people?

Here is a work in progress I have been working on today:

I will be back blogging on Monday. 

Fundamentals of Art - Drawing

For me, one of the fundamentals of art is drawing.  For the most part not a day goes by that I do not draw.  I have heard many times from many people, "if only I could draw....then".  Well, you can draw - IF you are willing to pay the price required to learn.  I think this is true for most things.  Drawing for me is as fundamental as scales are for a musician, or writing is for a writer.  The best approach I have found for learning how to draw was developed by Betty Edwards.  Her book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" is exceptional and if followed will give you the ability to 'see.'  The discipline to continue drawing after completing her course is essential to develop in order to truly master line.
Here are some examples of my daily drawings:

"What is a drawing?  How does one learn it?  It is working through an invisible iron wall that seems to stand between what one feels and what one can do.  How is one to get through that wall - since pounding against it is of no use?  One must undermine the wall and drill through it slowly and patiently, in my opinion.  And, look here, how can one continue to work assiduously without being disturbed or distracted from it - unless one reflects and regulates one's life according to principles?  And it is the same with other things as it is with art."  Vincent Van Gogh