Tuesday Voice

Ocean lighthouse therapeutic painting plus (detail)

Therapeutic art is more

By Vic Midyett

My wife Shirley calls the painting shown below HER therapeutic painting. She started painting it well over a year ago. At first it was only clouds in vivid orange, red, pink, and white splashes, almost like an atomic explosion. Then it toned down a little, but still with dark, angry-looking clouds. She would put it away and go back to it over the months, changing its mood each time.

Ocean lighthouse therapeutic painting plus (14" x 30")

    Finally, the painting ended up like this, with the hint of a lighthouse in the distance shining its light to those in desperation. What it says to me is, "No matter how troubled the waters of life get, if you seek well your personal and honest truth, you will be comforted by a good direction and a solid outcome."
    Shirley says that for her the painting became a symbol of peace and guidance no matter what the storms of life bring. It sits proudly in our van, which many have entered in order to look at her work, but of all her paintings, no one has ever commented on this one. She finds that in itself very interesting, perhaps underlining the fact that art needs to be interpreted by each individual. That's why she feels that therapeutic art must be interpreted by its creator – not by the person's therapist. Art is not just art.
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Copyright © 2014 by Vic Midyett

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