Life is Good

Photography by Luke Miller

Life is good. Anybody in Central Florida, stop by Aly’s Gallery in New Smyrna Beach at 7 p.m. for Cal Koomer’s one-man show.

Aly 

Life With The Color Drained Out

Photography by Luke Miller

I woke up this morning, and all the color had drained out of my life. Do I have a future of beige and cream and white? If color seeps back, will it ever be as brilliant as I remember?

Aly 

The Painting of My Life

Photography by Luke Miller

The painting of my life is never going to hang in the Miami Art Museum. Irreversible errors were made early on. Not that I am valueless. I’ll cheer the Sarasota city hall or the Volusia Mall or someone’s living room. My life is what it is.

Aly 

Do Flaws Really Add Depth, Luminescence to Art?

Photography by Luke Miller

Flaws add depth, luminescence, beauty to a masterpiece. Call me self-absorbed, but my mistakes only trash me. I’m the Coors can, crumpled and kicked to the side of the road.

Aly 

The Purpose of Transcendent Art

Photography by Matthew Adamson

Sometimes art sends you a different message than life does. What to believe? The beauty that exudes from a work and makes your heart hope? Or the bleakness of your personal reality? Perhaps the purpose of transcendent art is to foster hope where there is none.

Aly 

Good News Couched in Pain

The best news in the world can come at the perfect time and at the worst time. Sadness weaves through the joy, making it somehow richer, weightier. I wish you good news, even if it’s couched in pain.

Photography by Matthew Adamson

Aly

The Last Stroke

Like a kid tagged in freeze tag, my arm halts in mid-air. The work cries for that one last brushstroke. But I can’t do it. Not yet. I don’t know when I’ll be ready. I don’t care how long I have to walk around the easel, stubbing my toes on it. The last stroke could be the one that makes it a masterpiece or a tragedy.

Photography by Matthew Adamson

Aly 

What's The Focal Point of Your Art/Life?

photography by Matthew Adamson

Like a life, every good piece of art has a focal point. When I started The Art of My Life six years ago, I thought my focal point was my blog—for about a month. Then, whatever relationship I was in, my career. Finally, I found my focal point in the Divine. What’s yours?

Aly 

Before Its Time

photography by Matthew Adamson

Have you ever had a painting or relationship that was snatched away before its time? What do you do with the agony left in its wake? I don’t want to waste my suffering. Or worse, distill it down to bitterness.

Aly

Replication is Freaking Good Read!

I usually stick to art, but I had to tell you about a crazy fantastic book I read recently.


Replication makes cloning sound real. Riveting characters grabbed me from the start and never let me go with romance, suspense, and exotic settings. Even the bad guys felt real. I will absolutely read another Williamson title.

If you hate it, well, I can't help it if you have lousy taste in literature. I only hope your artistic sensibilities are better. I'm just sayin'...

Goals for One Person--Yourself!

You can only have goals for one person in life—yourself—because you are the only person you can control. You can hope your friends make good choices, but ultimately, it’s up to them.
Aly

                            photography by Matthew Adamson  

My Personal Disaster Etched on My Soul

photography by Matthew Adamson

So, I made a wrong stroke. I knew it was wrong, but I did it anyway because I wanted to. Now the picture is ruined. I suspected I’d already screwed it up a long time ago, but now sunlight gleams on my personal disaster. It doesn’t matter what I do with the canvas, it’s etched on my soul and will always live inside me.

Aly 

Simplicity or Complexity, What's Your Preference?

Simplicity or complexity, which is preferred in art or life? I just chose simplicity, and now I desperately want complexity. What’s your take?
Aly

photography by Matthew Adamson

Help Fixing the Cracked Mosaic of Your Life

Sometimes a friend has the one answer you desperately need to fix the cracked mosaic of your life. Now, you’re free to become who you were originally supposed to be. Happy becoming!

Aly

Back to Blank

Do you ever feel like I do, that you just want to go back to blank? No matter what, you can’t get all your mistakes off the canvas. I’ve got like six layers of white paint over my screw-ups, but, folks, it just ain’t the same.

Aly

Performance Art At Its Bravest And Most Sacrificial

photography by Luke Miller

Well, I did it—dove off the cliff into my dream. If you don’t hear from me again, I crashed on the rocks. But the dive arced with graceful abandonment, performance art at its bravest and most sacrificial. I did this for myself. But I did it for my friend, too.

Aly

                                           

Do I Have the Guts to Chase My Dreams?

European Landscape

By Vincent Van Gogh

I find myself staring at my dreams. Do I have the guts to face the pain it will take to achieve them? Did Van Gogh achieve his goal or just the pain?

Aly 

Why Did Van Gogh Bleed Color?

Why did Van Gogh bleed bold color and strokes on canvas? Did he go crazy because he chose wrong? Have you ever made a decision and been plagued with second thoughts?

Wheatfield With Crows, Vincent Van Gogh

How Do You Make a Decision?

The Red Boats, Claude Monet

Why did Monet choose mood over exact representation? 

Youngster Wearing Hat, Georges Seurat

Was Georges Seurat OCD or did he just like dots? 

Verre et pichet, Pablo Picasso

What if Picasso had spent his life painting portraits or landscapes? How do you make a decision? 

The Art on The Art of My Life

Oh, and to respond to a question I had yesterday—one that comes up every so often—the drawings on The Art of My Life that change every week are not my work. I’m more of an art lover than an artist. A friend did the drawings, but for reasons I’m not up for sharing, he shall remain anonymous. Toodles!