Life’s Canvas

Artists pour their souls out onto life’s canvas in a swirling, often tumultuous rhythm. In response, we inhale their chaos, mix it with our own creativity, as well as that of all the symphonic masterpieces which we’ve absorbed in the past. Whether the art is one of paint or plaster, music or steel, textual or visual, the creations are vital to our lives.

Each of us has a well of creativity within us, and we share these gifts whether we know it or not. Our ideas and our thoughts, when expressed, are a part of life’s art. Those who experience our creative gifts are affected, even if only in a small way.

Then there are those artists, whose gifts are so resplendent that the world cannot help but notice. They rush into our souls like a whirlwind, causing our emotions to swell and tumble and soar. These are the artists we recognize, though we have never met them. The artists we read about, the artists whose works we purchase, whose concerts we attend, whose movies we watch, whose lives we follow. They aren’t more or less important than those whose names we do not know, but they splatter their colors across a much larger canvas.

The retired general who gives impassioned speeches to raise money for disabled veterans, or the child who draws with chalk on the sidewalk; the effeminate teen in the school play, or the waitress who writes poetry on her blog. These are all people whose creative art affects others in ways they may never realize.

We Feel The Loss

All of life’s artists contribute to our world for a brief time. They live, they inspire, they die. We notice and collectively mourn for the artists whose names we all know. These are the beings who have touched the hearts and minds of millions of people. We all unite in sorrow when we lose these brilliant gems. This collective mourning does not take away from the loss of those whose names aren’t well known.

When we lose anyone, we lose a spark of creativity that touched someone. We lose the thoughts and ideas of everyone whose life here is ended.

Don’t be afraid to cry for those great artists that leave us behind. True, most of us didn’t “know” Prince, we’d never met David Bowie, or Glenn Frey, or Merle Haggard. We didn’t hang out with Patty Duke, Leonard Nimoy, or Jackie Collins. The hundreds of famous personalities who’ve died in our lifetime are the same who helped us live fully within our lifetimes. We know these people in a tiny way because their art has touched us. Our lives have evolved, our humanness has become something more each time their creative genius wound its way among us. These sparks of light deserve that brief moment of communal grief, for they remind us that we all share some common memories; some global experience.

The world doesn’t mourn any less for those whose names aren’t well known; the loss is merely in condensed form. To the people that found themselves touched by the waitress, the general, or the child – their losses are always deeply felt.

Universal mourning for the “great artists” of our time reflects the tears we shed in our everyday lives. I am grateful that my life has been touched by the creativity and brilliance of so many artists, both living and dead, famous or relatively unknown. We cannot know every creative soul; we cannot grieve for every life lost. So we come together – all of us – no matter how different we may be – once in a while – to remember a spark that lit a fire within us all.

Thank you to all the creative spirits in my life – every person I know, or have ever known, has contributed to the art within my own soul.