Zoom Autism Magazine Issue 3 Spring 2015 | Page 41

ARTIST SNAPSHOT
Filling Your Canvas with Colors

By Anne-Louise Holmes-Richards

"The purpose of art is to wash the
daily dust of life from our souls."
Quite so, Mr. Picasso, quite so! Ever since I was two years old,
I've been washing myself of dust almost every day. Art, for me,
is not simply a hobby, and it is not a necessity I employ to try to
make a living. Neither is it just something that I use to fill my time.
Art is my home. Art is my sanctuary. Within it, I can do whatever
I want. I can create whatever my very soul hungers for. With it, I
can pluck down glittering stars and wear them in my hair. I can
weave silken cloth from the wind and sleep on the waves. Art allows me to do the impossible, to live in a world of my own whenever I want or need to. Real life need not apply!
Of course, that doesn't mean that I reject real life
in the slightest! It's often what fires my imagination and leaves me in wonder. Have you ever
looked at a clear blue sky? Beautiful, isn't it?
And have you seen how it fades to a very slightly lighter blue on the horizon, how delicate it is,
how fragile it looks? And yet how magnificent!
How wonderful to capture that gentle magnificence on a canvas.
What about each hair on a bumblebee's leg?
Each one perfectly tapers. The little things like
that sometimes get ignored because of how
intense modern life can be. Many of my friends
have often said that I have an ability to notice
what everyone else passes. The phrase "stop and
smell the roses" has never been more appropriate, and I try to do so the best I can. It's in these little points of life
that I find respite, even when things have gone horribly wrong.
Only recently, I found myself sobbing my eyes out, feeling that my
life was crashing around me. And then I looked up at the sky and
said, "Well, at least there is an absolutely beautiful sunset tonight."
And that pulled a smile from me, albeit a watery one!
When I am overwhelmed or have no words for the emotions I'm
feeling, I draw. Or paint. Or write music. Or play music. My art
becomes my voice when my actual voice is no longer enough. Being an Aspie weaves its way through all of this. Maybe that's why
Zoom Autism Through Many Lenses

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