Besides my beloved dogs, music has also been very important to me. I'd even argue that music has played a vital role in my survival and wellbeing. Without it, I wouldn't be where I am today. And, I mean that!
I love all kinds of music, but for tougher times, I tend to gravitate towards more raw, grittier songs. Such as blues, heavy/death metal, and bluegrass ballads. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of Charlie Parr and Ryan Bingham; two artists I've somehow only recently discovered. Alongside them, I've continued to listen to artists and songs I've known for longer, such as Bear and a Banjo, Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley, as well as Tyler Childers, and Ray Wylie Hubbard.
This music makes me more than want to just strum their tunes on a guitar. It reminds me that I'm not alone in this world of suffering, and that I have gone through hard times before, and I can survive them again. But, the tunes and instruments themselves do way more to encourage my soul than the lyrics. When I listen to music, rarely do I listen to or for the lyrics. Instead, it's the beat, the instruments, the chords that attract me, not the lyrics. How or why this is, I can't yet put into words. Perhaps, in order to truly express what this music does for me, I actually just need to film myself sitting in the shade of the ponderosas in my backyard, strumming my old guitar (or not. I'm far too shy to perform my music in front of a camera).
Better yet, you ought to just listen to some of the artists I mentioned above. Perhaps, then, you'll get a better understanding of what I'm trying (and failing) to express in words. Some things simply can't be put into words. Hence is why music and painting and dancing exist.
Speaking of which, if music doesn't help to ease my troubles, I turn to art. Specifically, drawing and painting. A week or so ago (from the time of writing this), I payed a visit to the antique store knowing I'd need something besides a canvas to do art on while my house was being worked on and my mom's rav4 wasn't working. I left the musty place with a steer skull and a coyote skull, and got to work as soon as I got home.
For the longest time, I just sat staring at the skulls, visualizing the numerous ways I could decorate them in my mind's eye. Soon, I settled on a design for the steer skull. Carefully, with a fine pencil, I lightly sketched out a pronghorn buck's head. Alongside him, a bird of some sort would sit on a branch. But, it wouldn't be a realistic scene complete with a prairie background like my paintings tend to be. I wanted the skull to be much more colorful than that, as lots of color (especially bright, exciting colors) helps to calm me down.
Outside on my back porch, I set up my painting supplies on the outdoor table, which I'd covered with a plastic tarp to protect it from the paint. Then, I got to work, first slathering a very thick layer of red and gold acrylic paint on one half of the skull. On the other half of the skull, I put an equally thick coat of green and blue paint. While I was doing this, I was tuned into the rugged, bluegrass blues I described above.
Over the next several days, I've worked on my art, focusing mainly on the steer skull and a few small canvas paintings (I haven't yet settled on something for the coyote skull, so I've put it away for now). I'd work some on the steer skull, then work on a canvas painting or two while I waited for the skull to dry. Then, I'd get back to work on the steer skull, allowing the canvases to dry. That way, I got a lot more artwork done in a lot less time, and always had something to paint. Within a few days, my first several projects were complete. Well... Almost. I plan on sewing some goose and turkey feathers to strips of leather and wrapping them around the horns of the steer skull. Only, all of those feathers, leather strips, and my sewing kit are still in Washington. So, the steer skull will have to wait to be fully finished.
On the canvases, I've been experimenting with different styles of art, many of them inspired by contemporary and modern styles, as well as realism. While I don't like a lot of modern art, I do like some aspects of it. A canvas with some paint randomly slapped across it is technically art. But, such art just bothers me. I like art featuring recognizable things, like animals, foliage, items, people, so on. Art without those things just looks like an unfinished piece to me. But, I do like to paint a canvas random blotches of color, so then I can paint an animal or a scene with the modern-style as a background. I love lots of color. I love lots of details and things to look at on a canvas. I'm also inspired by old European folk art, featuring colorful plants and animals assembled into a pattern of sorts. Hence, the style of art I'm rapidly developing for myself.
Of course, I still do like scenery and realism art. So, among my more "modern" art pieces, I've painted a few sceneries as well, featuring everything from Hereford cattle to wildlife I see frequently where I live. Also, my grandma Debbie recently asked me to paint her an American Goldfinch which she'd pay me for, which has been in the works for some time. In short, I have a lot of painting to do and fill my days with, which I love!
