04/23/2022
You know its time to listen when you have been getting the same message from many sources in a short period of time! ๐ฎ I have been feeling disheartened (and a bit angry if I'm honest) because my feel-good show, the British Antiques Roadshow ๐ช, triggered my rage around how society treats women. Generally, I don't like how the experts on the show sexualize paintings and sculptures depicting nudes or semi-clad women. Recently, I was pushed past my breaking point when the male judge critiqued the woman portrayed in a painting ๐ผ as "hefty." Never mind that she CLEARLY was not hefty in the slightest....I am incensed that the size or shape of her body is considered relevant to the quality, beauty or value of the painting! ๐ก. To make matters worse, the woman who owned the painting just nodded in agreement, clearly internalizing, as I did, that the woman being described as "too chunky" was thinner than she was, but going along because we are also taught not to create conflict or make waves ๐ lest we seem "crazy." In the aftermath of this feeling I got several messages from the universe ๐ that I should learn to draw โ๏ธ figures in order to create the images that I wish to see--women in all our glorious variety, fully in our power.๐ฅ I remembered a life-drawing class offered online by an anti-diet group . Then an acquaintance, with no context, randomly asked if I'd ever taken any art classes! I googled art classes in my area, and found a life-drawing class just a couple blocks away starting in June! I chatted with a sweet neighbor who turns out to be an art teacher. And then the icing on the cake, today I pulled my King of Cups, Bob Ross! ๐จ This card isn't a literal message to go out and paint, but to take your imagination, creativity, and self-expression and put it at the center of your life. It's about sharing your "soul's work" from a place of humble leadership. Say no more, universe! I hear you!