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BY CHRIS HOLMES

Living a colorful, meaningful and amazing life each day is an art of the highest degree. Truthfully, most of us struggle to experience daily life somewhere between the mundane and the marvelous, and too often settle for warmed up pizza and something dull on TV.

As a watercolor artist I have come to appreciate how much the practice of painting has to offer in the intentional pursuit of vivid daily living. Elbert Hubbard, who founded the Roycroft artisan community in East Aurora, New York, at the turn of the 20th Century, spoke truth in espousing, "Art is not a thing, it is a way."

Art expresses that which is often taken for granted in our world in a way that helps us see it as marvelous or sacred. To me, good art is about creating beauty; it is the challenge of representing "what is" in a way that opens us to "what can be." In a sense, it opens the soul. Or as Pablo Picasso said, "The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls."

Artful living is much the same. It is not only about appreciating the beauty in the world but also about adding to that beauty in whatever ways we are gifted – whether it be as a chef, parent, teacher, planter, lover or artist.

There are an endless number of ways to conspire with the universe in the creation of magnificence. The art in Artful Living is deciding just how you are going to do that.

I offer these principles of watercolor painting to the quest of Artful Living.

Tenacious Curiosity

Many historians consider Leonardo da Vinci as the most curious person who ever lived. Think about all that he contributed to our world – the things he invented and the great art he painted. Did you know that Leonardo da Vinci invented the parachute long before the airplane was even envisioned? What an amazing, creative and curious mind he had. One of the ingredients of Artful Living is a tenacious sense of curiosity.

How many people today believe they can draw well? If I were to ask that same question to a class full of kindergarten children, how many hands do you think would go up? All of them! What happened to us? Vincent Van Gogh advised, "If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced."

A five-year-old on average engages in 98 creative tasks per day. By contrast, a 44- year-old engages in two creative tasks per day. A 5-year-old on average laughs 113 times per day; a 44-year-old laughs 11 times. A 5-year-old on average asks 65 questions per day; 44-year-olds ask four. Where did we lose our sense of creativity, humor and curiosity?

Artful Living is about remaining highly curious, inquisitive and having a sense of imagination – even as an adult. Especially as an adult!

Preserving White Space

Do you know what color is absent from the watercolorist's pallet? It is white. A conventional watercolor artist never uses white; they don't even own a tube of it. The reason for that is one of the great challenges of watercolor painting, the creative use of white space, where instead of applying the paint to the page, we preserve the white of the page.

For example, if you are painting a white picket fence in front of a dense green forest, the white pickets cannot be added later with white paint layered over the green. Each picket of that white fence in the foreground must be carefully preserved as white paper, as the forest is painted behind and between each picket.

I have found a corresponding principle in Artful Living, in that a colorful life is surrounded by white space. I am referring to down time, meditation, prayer, porch swing time, quiet time and just being. It is time without the smartphone, email, iPod, computer and TV. Many of us are drowning in the over stimulation of color filling every square inch of the page of our lives.

The color itself is not bad, in fact it is beautiful. But it is overpowering without the white space. The white space provides the margin for the richness and color in the rest of life. Author John Updike says, "What art offers is space – a certain breathing room for the spirit." 

Regaining Perspective

When I have been working on a painting for an extended period of time, I find it helpful to step across the room to look at it from a distant perspective. It is then that certain aspects about the painting pop out to me which are not right or too bold or need attention.

It also helps just to walk away for a while. When I come back I can see things that I couldn't see before because I was too focused on the close-up details of the painting.

Regaining perspective matters as much in life as it does in painting. I can't tell you how many times I used "time-out" in parenting our three children as they were growing up. The thing is, more often than not, I was the one who took a self-imposed "parental time out" in order to regain my composure and come back with a fresh perspective.

In the book, "The Art of Possibility," Ben Zander, maestro and conductor, tells the story of the importance of "rule number six." What is rule number six? "Don't take yourself too damn seriously." What are the other rules? "There are none." Artful Living is about maintaining a healthy perspective on life, and on the things that really matter, beginning with not taking yourself too seriously.

Don't Overwork It

I think the medium that an artist chooses to paint with frequently matches their personality. Oil painters are patient and tend to be perfectionists; they keep coming back to add more layers and get it just right. Watercolor painters, on the other hand, tend to be like me – rather impetuous and they get bored easily. We paint with a "git‘er done" kind of attitude which keeps us from overworking a painting. If you keep coming back to a part of the painting again and again you will probably mess it up.

We often find that the exceptional parts of a painting just serendipitously happen when colors run together. We didn't intend it but two colors bleed into one another forming a swirl, which makes us think, "Oh, my gosh, I have messed this up." And then we realize this amazing result which we never could have accomplished if we had intended it. The cartoonist who created the Dilbert comic strip, Scott Adams, says, "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."

So another important principle in Artful Living is not to overwork it. After all, when it comes to life, there is only so much you can control, right? Just as in painting watercolors, Artful Living requires a degree of trust in what happens that is outside our control. Sometimes life just happens. It is the unexpected instances in life which often lead to the most amazing experiences.

Create Sacred Meaning

Art, in any form – drama, prose, poetry, dance, opera, sculpture – has the ability to connect directly with our heart. It can draw us deeply into the pain of life by moving us profoundly, cause us to stand up and shout in celebration of life, or it can simply take our breath away. Good art connects us with meaning.

As an artist, before my brush touches the pallette that brush is first dipped deeply into my own soul where it is swirled around for awhile, and it is from there that I paint. I paint from a location within me that is not my head or my heart or gut, but a combination of all of those. I bring to the canvas not just my training, my eyes or my hands which work the brush, but something more like a sacred combination of all of those.

Painting is one of the few challenges in life which completely uses all of me; it requires every aspect of who I am to show up and be available in service to the outcome. To me, that is what makes being an artist a holy endeavor, and what makes the finished painting something beyond me.

My genuine hope is that the viewer is able to see in my work the beauty of God through the beauty of what God has created. Andre Gide, the 20th century French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in

Literature, shared this reflection. "Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better."

Eric Liddell, the 1924 Olympics Gold Medalist, whose story is depicted in the movie "Chariots of Fire," was a devout Christian, and for that reason refused to run in his best event, the 200 meters race, which he was favored to win, because it was scheduled to be run on a Sunday. Instead, he ran in the 400 meters race and sprinted the entire race to not only win but also set the world's record. Reflecting on his faith, Liddell remarked, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel (God's) pleasure." Perhaps that says most succinctly what I am trying to share with you about the connection of art to God. As an artist, I believe God made me for a purpose. And when I paint I feel God's pleasure. When I paint I feel God's satisfaction in and through me.

Artful Living is about more than appreciating beauty, it is about creating meaning in how we live our life. It is about the daily choices we make in relation to others when we are at work, in our community, and at home. It is about what we choose to stand up for, and in what we invest our time and resources. It is about who and what we make time for.

Living a colorful, meaningful, and amazing life each day truly is an art form of the highest degree.

The art in Artful Living is deciding just how you are going to do that.

The Rev. Chris Holmes leads the Annapolis District. Prints of his watercolors may be viewed online. Proceeds from the sale of Chris' art go to financially support the Mushinje Orphan Trust, the Annapolis District Mission Project in Zimbabwe.