Who Needs Art These Days?!

I have a friend with whom I like to have lengthy philosophical discussions.

And this friend also has another friend with whom he likes to have even lengthier philosophical discussions.

So he recently forwarded me one of those from her Telegram channel – in which they pondered the current state of the world.

In that discussion, my friend's friend, who has the skill of analysing things on a deep level – like the level behind the level behind the level behind the surface, which is something I greatly appreciate – said some pretty thought-provoking stuff.

Which I am not gonna get into here, though.

What’s more important for the context of this email is that she also said something pretty depressing.

Essentially, she believes that...

... there is no hope whatsoever for the majority of people, with what is likely to come to all of us in a not-too-distant future.

That we as humans have effed up so badly that we are beyond the point of any hope now.

And I thought to myself:

Blimey, what an incredibly bleak perspective!

I am convinced she has her reasons. Probably some she could back up extremely well in an argument.

But all this brought me back to years ago – to some point in my soul-searching twenties – when I was asking myself one of those deep questions about life:

“What is my purpose???”

And I got a very clear answer back then:

“Bring more love and beauty into the world.”

Already then, it got me thinking:

Isn’t that a bit shallow? Aren’t there more pressing things happening in the world right now than preoccupying yourself with beauty!? Aren’t those other things more important and need to be taken care of first?

People having less money, one major catastrophe chasing the next, terrifying news and war announcements looping on the news 24/7… who has the time, emotional space, and money for art, given all that???

How can you justify creating art and selling it for a price that also actually reflects its worth, the time and love that went into it?

One could now simply think: well, you just don’t.

But think about this some more.

What if not beauty is the answer to most, if not all, questions in life (when you go to the level behind the level behind the level behind the surface)?

Especially in hard times, where we seemingly only see misery around us, isn’t it particularly important to open our eyes to beauty once more?

When you are permanently stressed and depressed because for the last I don’t know how many years it has been constantly announced that the world might be ending any day now, isn’t it crucial, especially then, to bring beauty back into your life?

Of course, if you don’t have money to buy food, don’t go buy art!

But there are other ways to experience beauty – go out into nature, and look at the leaves of a tree or the petals of flowers, or marvel at the enchanting babbling of a brook that meanders its way through a landscape.

But if you can afford something that is beautiful to you, it might be worth considering it.

Recently, for example, I bought a calendar with artwork from an artist I like, Steph Edwards (you might know her as toyoufromsteph on the gram).

Did I need it? Not necessarily. Will it bring me joy throughout the year when I look at it in my adorable kitchen whenever I am cooking a nice meal? Absolutely!

So I argue:

We need more beauty in our lives, and it’s not unnecessary or pointless. It very much is the point of our lives.

Maybe artists have a harder time justifying their work in dire times – as one might think other things are more important right now. But what if everyone only focused on the pragmatic, mere survival-mode stuff? And nobody focused on beauty anymore?

How sad a world would that be?

So: lovingly created art is needed – especially in hard times! To keep us going and give us hope.

I don’t mean go around mindlessly spending your money to accumulate stuff you don’t need.

But if something moves you, touches your soul, and speaks to your heart, I’d argue: allow yourself to enjoy its beauty.

And let that beauty ripple through your life.

Reminding you and inspiring you to look out for even more beauty – to amplify it, radiate it, and create more of it yourself – to balance out all the misery you see left, right and centre.

Not in a sense of naïvely ignoring what's going on in the world. But as an act of choosing an alternative. Will it tip the scale enough to make a difference? I don't know.

But what I know for myself right now is:

I want to appreciate beauty and let it fill my life. (It actually is there anyway – all you need is to choose to see it.)

There you go, that’s my monologue for today. You're welcome.

And, if you now think “Hm, that eloquent and wise half-German, half-English girl has a point: I could do with some more beauty in my life!”, I subtly suggest my bespoke Spirit Animal portraits.

Here’s a quick rundown of how those work:

• You tell me your Spirit Animal(s) and idea for the painting

  
  

• I paint it

  
  

• I send it to you

  
  

• You can marvel at it in your home and have one of your 5-a-day daily doses of beauty sorted, easy-peasy

And what’s extra cool is that the painting will have a special meaning to you. So it will likely help you even more through the challenging times we are in and which will most realistically continue to get more intense.

To get your portrait, click here:

https://www.thewhitepeonybison.com/spirit-animal-portraits

Love,

Katharina

Jeff 1, Jeff 2, Jeff 3 …

Recently, I saw a reel on Instagram that said something along the lines of:

“Hurt an artist, and you’ll see masterpieces of what you’ve done.”

Well, I don’t agree with the victim perspective of it (or the self-aggrandizing vibe), but that quote “by unknown” has a point.

So I thought back to all the creations I’ve produced over the last years.

And yep, I’d say some of my best work has been the result of some shape or form of heartache and pain.

For example, the PAINting (clue's in the name, really) “Free Spirits” I did of three horses galloping alongside each other (you can find a pic of it on Instagram), was born out of the sheer frustration over Germany’s EXCESSIVE amount of pain-in-the-bum bureaucracy, which made me feel like a trapped horse with its back against a wall.

So, after some time of crying and sobbing on the floor in desperation, I got up and was like “Okay, what would be the opposite of that feeling? Galloping freely alongside my soul sisters who share my desire for freedom!”

Et voilà, the painting was born.

It now hangs over the wooden dining table with a beautiful naturally curved edge (one of the first furniture items I bought for my new flat in Germany) in my living room, where I can look at it every day.

Another example:

When my mum died – I was in my early twenties then and lived in France – I wrote a text that described how I felt at that time. I was quite different back then, as was my writing style, but the eloquence and some of the metaphors in that text still strike and move me today.

Or when I recently fell in love with a man (let’s call him Jeff, but that’s obviously not his real name) who didn’t feel the same way, it unleashed a whole arsenal of creations: poems, paintings, and, heck, even three out of the four book ideas I recently had and that I am working on in the background at the moment were inspired by the pain of this unrequited love!

I might as well just call the books by his name and just put numbers at the end to differentiate between them...

… Jeff 1, Jeff 2, Jeff 3 …

Or take The Return of the White Animals oracle, which was born out of the collective pain that came along with the separation that the Covid area brought. (If you read the card descriptions closely, you might even be able to spot the parts that refer to that time.)

Hmm, have I ever actually created any artwork that wasn't born out of pain?

Okay, yes, some pieces I actually did create simply because I wanted to craft something beautiful – such as my animal sculptures (which I really wanna get back into doing at some point – if you have any animal suggestions, let me know).

But, overall, yep, most of my work so far has derived from painful experiences.

And I realise more and more how closely linked pain and beauty are:

Pain is the seed that birthes beauty.

Now, I am not sure if that sentence emerged from my brain all on its own or if I picked it up from one of the books I've been reading recently, which, I'm not gonna lie, is a possibility. (The other day, I had an idea for an actual book title for Jeff 3 and thought “Dang it, that's a great idea!” – until I realised it was the subtitle of a book I am reading at the moment... Good old facepalm moment right there.)

So I don’t claim creative ownership of that sentence. But regardless of who came up with it, think about this in your own life:

How sweet is it to love someone, to experience beauty, adventures and joy with them, and how much does your heart break and ache when they leave your life in some shape or form?

Pain and beauty walk hand in hand.

I kinda imagine them like two best friends – a cheerful and a moody one – strolling through life side by side. (A visual that's just come to me as I am typing this. By the way, I am typing this email extra fast after listening to a podcast episode by Ben Settle on training yourself how to write faster. It feels a bit like being back in school when you had to answer questions for a test in a certain timeframe, and time was running out. Aaaaaah… time’s a ticking, and I am digressing here!)

So, realising how closely pain and beauty are linked has helped me embrace the painful parts of life more – just like embracing the seasons of autumn and winter (instead of perpetually trying to hold on to spring and summer). Which is also a little teaser of what will be coming soon (keep your eyes peeled for Jeff 1!).

But for now, I’d like to refer you back to The Return of the White Animals oracle if you want to buy one of my creations that turned pain into beauty. While I get back to working on Jeff 2, you get your copy of the oracle here:

https://www.thewhitepeonybison.com/oracle

Love,

Katharina

Mama Needed a Break

Since you are reading this, you will most likely know that I self-published my first oracle last year.

And you might also understand that, after about four years of working on it, once it was out in the world, I DESPERATELY needed a break from it.

I still loved it, but, hell yeah, mama needed a break!

Don’t get me wrong, I still rejoiced when I saw people loving the deck and working with it, sharing it on Instagram and so on.

But I hardly touched it myself. Maybe, 'twas the creative equivalent of post-partum depression …

But every now and then, I would glance over at my white Billy shelf from Ikea that I bought off a friend last year when I moved into my beautiful and incredibly cosy, fairy-light-filled flat by Lake Constance in Germany – and my eyes would land on the board with my decks on it.

I would then pick up a copy, take it in my hands, open it, look through the cards, and be like:

“Damn it, I created this! It did not exist before, but now it does. I made this happen.”

And I would feel so much love and appreciation for this deck – the cards with their rose-touch lamination, the thick box, the full-colour booklet that was edited by the – in my opinion – best editor in the world (and the only editor I want for any of my future books, of which I already have several in the pipeline, but more on that later, all in good time), Gemma Knight.

I love the colours and the rounded corners.

I love how my vision manifested into reality.

All this is a great reminder of our creative power. We can bring things into existence. We are very powerful beings. We can not only only cause chaos and destruction (as some people believe, and the state of the world kinda does back them up on that one) but also create beauty.

So let this email be your reminder that you can achieve what you’ve set out to achieve, create what you are dreaming of creating, and birth into being what wants to be birthed through you.

The Return of the White Animals oracle is the living proof of it.

And if you don’t own a copy of it yet, despite being on this list and reading these emails, honestly, what are you doing with your life?

These animals want to be by your side.

So let them. ;)

https://www.thewhitepeonybison.com/oracle

Love,

Katharina