Over the years I've received a variety of interesting responses to both me and my art. I've been called naive, credulous or Pollyanna. I used to think that was a bad thing. Now... I'm not so sure 'bout that!
I've been told I'm not cutting edge, and that my art was not edgy enough to be relevant today. Hmmmm...
It's taken me a long to time know what it is I want to "say".
And that is, in a nutshell:
Carpe Diem!
Seize the day. Life is short.
Live it to the fullest each day, with Love and Joy.
Living Flamboyantly
by Retta Stephenson
There is a special essay written 92 years ago by Samuel Ullman that says it better than I ever could. I'll tell more about him another time. Suffice to say, he is special to me.
Below is his essay. After you read it, you'll know why it's special to me, and why I want my art to be UPlifting.
It may not be cutting edge or "cool", but it's what is in my heart: A zest to live a beautiful life, and to Love the best I know how.
"YOUTH"
by Samuel Ullman
Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20. Nobody grows old by deserting our ideals.
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.
Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing childlike appetite of what's next and the joy of the game of living.
In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.
When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at 20, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at 80.
In our hearts, we are Forever Young,
Retta
