lynngoldstein89@gmail.com
[email protected]
  • Home
  • AVAILABLE ART
    • Newest Art
    • Vibrant Landscapes
    • Installation Art
  • About
    • Resume
    • Studio
  • WORKSHOPS/CLASSES
    • ARTIST MENTORING
    • PAINT IN ITALY 2025
    • Build Color Confidence-Online Course
  • CONTACT
  • Subscribe
  • Home
  • AVAILABLE ART
    • Newest Art
    • Vibrant Landscapes
    • Installation Art
  • About
    • Resume
    • Studio
  • WORKSHOPS/CLASSES
    • ARTIST MENTORING
    • PAINT IN ITALY 2025
    • Build Color Confidence-Online Course
  • CONTACT
  • Subscribe

The Healing Power of Art - Love & Typewriters?

4 Comments

 
Picture
Bluebells, Acrylic, 36 x 24 inches, ©Lynn Goldstein
How often are you reminded of a loved one in your past when you hear a specific song, smell a familiar smell, or look at a photograph? Visual art can also remind you of someone who means or meant a great deal to you. When that happens it can feel like magic. This is one of the many ways that art can help us to heal. If we are reminded of a lost loved one because of imagery in visual art, we can be comforted by the experience. 

When I went to pick up payment for a painting that I sold recently (the one pictured above), I was touched to the core by what the collector told me.

First of all, she mentioned that this was the first "real" art that she had ever purchased.  I was surprised at how uplifting her words were. Then she went further in her comments about the painting. She said that her mother had passed away 9 years ago. She had no photographs of her mother around her home because seeing the photographs saddened her.  

One day, while passing by my painting, she was struck by it. The woman portrayed in the painting made her think of her beloved mother. She couldn't see her face in the painting, but felt her beautiful mother was portrayed there, and the painting made her happy. Unlike the photographs that she hides of her mother, this painting doesn't add to her grief. Instead, the painting helps her to feel her mother's presence and makes her feel better. 

​Just last month a similar thing happened to me. I'll explain.
Picture
Picture
Royal typewriter and Typewriter print by Valerie Stemac
My father died when I was 25 years old. He still remains one of the best people I have ever known.

He was a fast and furious typist, and typed all his correspondence to me after I left home. He used a Royal typewriter that looks like the one pictured above. He hit the keys so hard that the back of the typing paper would sometimes look like braille. I loved getting his letters, and can't see a typewriter of any stripe and not think of him. 

While in my studio building, I saw that one of my fellow artists, Valerie Stemac, was working on prints that illustrated an old typewriter. I was so happy seeing that artwork. Memories flooded back to me. All these years later, and that print made me smile as I thought of my beloved father, and felt his presence healing me from my loss so long ago. Valerie was kind enough to give me a tote bag with her typewriter print on it. 

Art can challenge us, disturb us, and make us think, but it's ability to heal us and bring us peace is equally important ... and lovely.  Please tell me what you think. Has a piece of art helped to remind you of someone you held dear?  Just leave a comment below by hitting comment. Thanks for reading!
4 Comments
Lucy
9/26/2017 04:05:05 pm

Lynn, thank you for sharing your lovely painting and how it touched the collector who bought it, and for also sharing how special your father's typewritten letters are to you! How wonderful to have those memories of caring loved ones! I have a couple of prints of artwork by N.A. Noel that are healing for me. They are from her series of Amish children: her "Shades of Summer" and "Ian and the Frog" pieces. Whenever I look at them, I'm reminded of the beauty of gentleness in loving others, in this case, childhood pets. I love the sense of fresh contentment and innocent warmth that are evident in these two paintings.

Reply
Lynn link
9/26/2017 08:09:04 pm

Thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment on my blog. How wonderful that you have art that has reminded you of the love that you felt for your childhood pets. I had only one pet growing up, and she was dear to me. Your post makes me smile thinking of her! Thanks again!

Reply
Storyboard Artist LA link
12/15/2022 12:21:10 pm

This is one of the many ways that art can help us to heal. If we are reminded of a lost loved one because of imagery in visual art, we can be comforted by the experience. Thank you for making this such an awesome post!

Reply
Lynn link
12/15/2022 12:59:26 pm

Thank you for reading, and taking the time to respond, to what I have written in this blog post. I appreciate it!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    MEET THE ARTIST
    Happy to have you here. This is where you will see work in progress, tips about making art, seeing art, and enjoying art. You will also see ways to live life like an artist. 



    EXPLORE THE BLOG

    ​

    All
    Abstract Painting
    Art Help
    Artist Tools
    Exhibitions
    Inspiration
    Landscape Painting
    Making Art
    Painting
    TFAA
    Torpedo Factory
    Washington Society Of Landscape Painters


    To see work in progress, and more activity in my studio, follow me on Instagram. 

    Stay in Touch

    ABOUT          ARTWORK            WORKSHOPS       CONTACT     PRIVACY         TERMS

    EMAIL ME AT [email protected] 
    ALL ARTWORK IMAGES ON THIS SITE ARE © LYNN GOLDSTEIN