Art & Soul Insider 2022 JAN

ART

Happy New Year!!

This newsletter, I will be sharing about the Principle of Unity. Last newsletter I talked about the Principle of Contrast… so basically unity is the direct opposite of contrast. But I’ll expand a bit more. Unity is a principle of design that gives an art work a sense of cohesion, wholeness, similarity and oneness.

This is an example of unity of line. All of the black and white lines are the same thickness and are straight. The image, below, has unity in shape. All of the shapes are similar to one another as they look like leaf shapes.

The next example of unity is colour. There is contrast, with the left side, in shape’s sizes, but unity in the colour yellow. As for the right side, there is contrast in the colours, but unity in the shape’s sizes.

Unity can also be seen in values. The images below have unity of values because the visuals are in values (light to dark).

And finally there is texture. This similarity of texture can be seen through these walking surface stones….they are all flat on the top but are defined by their edges.

So, as you go about your day, try to see the unity between things.

SOUL

Did you make your New Year’s Resolution? I didn’t. In fact, I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions at all. It always seems like there is an incredible amount of pressure to change ourselves. There is the focus of what is wrong with us and how ‘off’ we are. What if we didn’t see ourselves as faulty and bad? What if we were gentler with ourselves?

I do things differently now. I break the year into quarters of three months (January, April, July and October) and evaluate what went well and what would I like to be different. I divide my life into four sections: Creative Expression, Health & Vitality, Career & Wealth and Love & Relationships. Creative Expression is how you express your individuality and things you like to do. Things that make your heart sing. Health & Vitality covers your mind, body and spirit and their well-being. Career & Wealth covers your job and your financial world. And finally, Love & Relationships, are your relations with others as well as your relationship with yourself. How well are you taking care of yourself? Based on these four sections of my life, I examine my life with eyes of love and acceptance.

I have grown so much in my love for myself over the past few years. Like I wrote above, there is a greater sense of acceptance. I no longer see ‘my perceived shortcomings’ with hatred or anger, but with approval. I am no longer so hard on myself. I am in awe in how much I have grown in this aspect. My hope is that you see yourself through the eyes of love.