Art for Living A Life You Live with Bonnie and Greg Dixon

Hello,

Imagine when every stroke of the brush, every splash of color becomes a dance of imagination. We often underrate the transformative powers of art - well, not on my watch! 

This week, in an incredibly revealing episode, Bonnie and Greg take us on an unusual journey into the world of art. 

Here's the catch though - it's not just about canvases and colors. Art goes beyond what you simply see, it seeps into every facet of life, helping you to live a life you truly love.

 If you ever doubted that you could unite creativity and life, this episode might just change your mind. From a peculiar technique called cosmic smash booking, to reviving the childlike joy that's stifled far too often, there's a trove of treasures waiting to be unearthed.  

Greg dives into his personal experiences, recounting how art and music have shaped his past and continue to define his existence today. He also reflects on the beauty of art as a universal binder, something every culture inherently contains. Witnessing the rise and flow of art across the globe - he brings this rich, vivid tapestry to life in our discussions.

But, hey let's not spill all the beans here! Tune in to get the full, immersive experience - from art journaling to painting rocks. You just might find an art form that speaks to the deepest corners of your heart. 

Do you already have a favorite piece of art? Or perhaps you dabble in drawing, painting or crafting yourself? We'd love to hear more about your personal art adventures, and who knows, you might even be a guest on our podcast.

Write to us!

gregdixon@sharedvisions.com

And before you leave, here's a whisper we are sure you don't want to miss; we are LifeWave brand ambassadors offering a promising path to wellness and success. Join us on this journey at HealthyWealthyCamper.com/Bonnie.

Let's take a step together towards living a life filled with healthier choices, greater wellbeing and excelling on a whole new level!

Stay creative,

Bonnie and Greg Dixon

Life A Life You Love

Come learn more about Shared Visions Unlimited at https://sharedvisions.com/

Transcript

Needs editing:-)

Howdy hi Bonnie and Greg here and today we're going to talk about art art for living a life You love and art. 

I'm gonna go on on and on a little bit later about my background with art, but for now Bonnie has been teaching a Course an art course. It's in the local Arts Council and she's been doing it and You call it.

Yeah, well, I just call it heart notes and it's funny because that was my email from many Years ago when I was doing greeting cards art notes heart notes art journaling art journaling.

 Where I learned this technique from is from my lovely lady down in Dallas, Texas Catherine Irwin and she teaches a class called cosmic smash booking and so she taught me how to do this and Someone saw it here in my tiny little town up here in Merritt, British Columbia So in a local Arts Council just said hey, would you share what you know, so I did and I must tell you 

No, this is Greg and I haha but first you do Journaling like you literally journal on top of blank pages. Here we go And then after you're done journaling you put art here that I will go a different one art on top of it and what's really fun is it's a great way to Discharge energy Talk to yourself all you want while you're journaling and then when you're complete You can have fun with your art supplies, whatever you have around the house Paints pencils and you can just cover it up So you are you go ahead and discharge your energy? Whatever topic you're working on and then you cover it with art and it feels so good And I've never been in what I call an artist but this gives the playfulness of Playing with art and When I do it with Catherine, it is so much fun. And then when I share it with others, it's just Bringing the little kid out in you. 

Yeah, so that's my experience with Art journaling and if you'd like and you reach out to us on this, I'll introduce you to Catherine Yeah, and she does a free class every month Well, maybe maybe later we'll go back and put a link to the end to the chat Yeah, so and Greg you've had a long history with art. In fact, there's a piece of your art, right? On the wall here.

Yeah, that's blocking the window, but what I love about you is it's a You've done art and it's not fine art, but it's art nonetheless shows a lot of your passion and your colors and You tell your story about your art Yeah.

Well, I started I got a scholarship before I started grade one to go to summer school for art And then I always through an elementary school in high school. I always did art and music Throughout until at some point You had to decide you couldn't do both So, you know just so you know that was offsetting history math physics chemistry and literature English So I ended up doing a lot of English literature later, but I've always been involved when when I lived in North Vancouver Wow, okay at one time. I was one of the first people online in the 1990s I created an online art gallery called the shared visions gallery and I had a couple of people in Vancouver and artists from from Italy from Venice and and and other people.

Because I had this gallery called the Shared Visions Callery. I ended up having a conversation with somebody in Delray Beach, Florida Turns out they also had a gallery called the Shared Visions Gallery.

 So I ended up and and they basically they heard that The local Chamber of Commerce had a couple of web pages on them and they went to search it and they found the first five Pages were mine So they wanted to know how to do that ended up registering a domain for them created a website and they described themselves as The you know with with the possible of exception of a gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona. They thought they were the finest Western and Native American gallery in America and it was probably true. They had just absolutely gorgeous stuff. So Anyway, I went on to that. I am I Spent some time. I volunteered at the Arts Council in North Vancouver for probably over 10 years one of their best Events was an art in the garden tour which combined art Music and a really nice show garden So we we had our garden in in the show one year and I played music I didn't have my art displayed but you know someday I Have to say I didn't have a whole lot of success trying to promote painters. 

And so one one time I took some time just to sit down and do nothing else other than paint. I Spent six months and it was probably the most relaxing rewarding thing That I ever have done in my life and and maybe I should get back to doing more of that I also have toured. 

I think art really is Something very human, you know, I had been talking about writing and before there were writing there were cave drawings So people told their stories and expressed themselves with art and drawings and things like that since really since the beginning of time and art followed by music and then eventually there is a written language and It's just something very human and everywhere I've gone we go when we're traveling we go in to visit art galleries local.

here's some really pretty good. There's a place called creative here, which is a co-op and a bunch of artisans Yeah, it's it's paintings drawing sculptures all sorts of cute stuff and it's really really fun They have a lot of we have a lot of sort of craft shows here where the stuff's on display I've I've taken thousands and thousands of photos that have been used in various places and some someday I'll do more with that and I've just wherever ever I've gone. I've been all across North America San Francisco, California All across to New York And many galleries in Europe. I've been to lots of galleries in in Italy and France and England and It's all you know, many many ways. The art is kind of a history of the people It's also expression of what's important to them and sometimes it's just beautiful like you just really You know, that's in the Arts Council's you tend to get Really nice beautiful landscapes and abstracts are just interesting things They look lately They had a fabric art show here on in merit and that was just really really good and I might even try playing with that at some point it's just it's it's really It helps it's really Important for living the life you love and it's something you don't need to have money to go do it you can just wander around and Enjoy yourself and Bonnie Bonnie likes doing she's doing more than I am with creating stuff and she was painting rocks for a while That's something we get back on the road. We shall continue doing her Journaling and and painting rocks. I'm looking forward at our Arts Council to taking a class on wood burning Wood-burning and then I bought the tool about I don't know six years ago and but here's the first time there's a class I'm gonna learn how to do that as well as Mandela Painting on a rocks. I love I don't know. I just love rocks Yeah, it's interesting. My sister painted me a rock with some beautiful flocks yellow flocks on it and Flowers and then I have it by By a step going into RV and it makes me happy. It makes me happy Yeah, every time I look at that and I just love it and I can just say today As people were journaling and doing their art it brings out the joy and happiness and little kid in us and our minds relax and I know for Greg music does that for him and then art and with today's world World, there's always something going on and sometimes more than others and it's a way to Schedule into your schedule whether it's music or art today. We're talking about art To relax the brain Relax our thoughts and we feel better afterwards. Yeah for doing it. So scheduling in time say on Someday, well, there is no such thing as a someday just schedule it in With Catherine she and I worked together for 12 weeks in a row and it got a pattern going Yeah to where now I can easily just go and do some journaling and and and later do art Yeah, and it's so much fun for Greg having probably an easel and some paints ready would be great And then he knows he can always go out and play his guitar to have both Yeah, so it can be simple. It's just getting going down to the dollar store. You can get You know Plain paper, you know Maybe sketch paper and just you write your notes if you like writing Journaling and then maybe doing some doodles and sketches and doing some drawing it just just have fun with it and it can be No matter what your age. Yeah, whatever no matter what your age is. Just um, you know, just Helps clarify your thoughts. Just they are just fun and fun distractions. Just being a plane with stuff. Mm-hmm Play anyway, so maybe if you're if you're listening here Maybe you can type in the chat like what kind of art you like what you'd like to What you like to enjoy go see do you like to go certain galleries like Paintings of flowers photos of flowers. Do you like do you like wild crazy stuff? There's some I've seen some pretty wild Yes, and one of my favorite Exhibitions is my son kale and I drove across Canada We had too much roll to the Jazz Festival and on the way back. We stopped in at At a gallery in in Saskatchewan and and It was all Joni Mitchell's work. So she's very very creative musically and very creative artistically There's a really fun stuff to do there. Yeah, very cool Well, I'm so excited for your art adventure If that's what you choose to do if you'd like to contact us Yeah, we'd love to chat with you about your art adventures. Yeah and living a life you love And if you want to be a guest on the show and talk about your art experience, you know what you do. Let us know Thanks. Thank you very much. Thanks for for joining us and we'll see you soon. See you next time Thank you for joining the show today Before you go Bonnie and I have a special invitation for you to live a life you love Are you looking for better health and wellness for yourself and others? Are you looking for a new opportunity for success? We have been LifeWave brand ambassadors for many years We've experienced amazing wellness results for ourselves and seen amazing results in others using the LifeWave products LifeWave is a highly trusted company with top worldwide growth according to home-based business Perfect as a side gig or main mission with many success stories. LifeWave can be a path to living a life you love Learn more at HealthyWealthyCamper.com slash Bonnie or reach out to us See you soon, Bonnie and Greg Dixon