Make your art collection matter more in 2019 by doing these 3 things
Happy 2019 to you!
Are you happy with how 2018 turned out for you?
I only ask because I know it was a tough year for a lot of people.
And an incredible, record-breaking year for others.
At Wilcox Gallery and Jim Wilcox Art, it was the latter.
As we head into the New Year, I just want to share a few art-related things that made me happy in 2018 and will be sure to help you in 2019. Especially if you’re an art collector or admirer.
Let’s get started.
1. Appreciate What You Have
I just watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” for the first time ever.
I grew up with an aversion to old movies for some reason, and am now kicking myself that I didn’t watch this one sooner.
In this classic, the hero George Bailey dreams big and wants to swing for the fences…
But circumstances pull him back and ground him into a career he feels trapped in, a home he hates and a life where he gives more than he gets.
Disaster and catastrophes mar his idea of a perfect life until he can’t take it anymore.
Standing on a bridge ready to end it all, his guardian angel gives him one more chance to serve by leaping into the icy water before him. This act triggers the main character’s desire to help people and he dives in not to end his life, but to save one.
This act sets in motion a chain of events that shows him what his little acts of service have done over the years.
Shows him how to appreciate the good things in his life.
And redeems his fallen status in an extraordinary way.
While not everyone is George Bailey, nearly everyone under-appreciates the beauty that surrounds them.
Make time for the beauty in your life
I feel like this may be especially true for art collectors, who are making a large, optional purchase every time they add art to their collection.
How often do you admire your art?
I recently got a new painting myself, and have been spending a great deal of time standing in front of it.
It brings a smile to my face every time, provides relief from chaos and soothes my sometimes battered psyche.
Paintings are windows to the world we want to live in at their best. Do you gaze through that window or just let it decorate your home?
How about every time you start thinking that life isn’t giving you enough, you spend a little time with your art and the people and activities you love?
While you can’t control circumstances, you can control how you react to them.
And reacting to negatives by spending time with your art collection will throw open the “windows” to shed light on any darkness in your life.
If you don’t already feel this way about your art, try this: next time you feel dissatisfied with your life, spend 2-5 solid minutes just soaking in the beauty, the brush strokes and the poetry of your favorite piece of art.
Take note of how you feel both before and after. Make this practice a gateway to the world you want to live in and you may find you’re living in that world already.
Take the time to appreciate your art and you’ll appreciate your whole life a little more.
Add Some Beauty to Your Life
See more of the good in life with Jim Wilcox originals and giclee prints.
2. Surround Yourself with Beauty
While some art collectors have this one figured out, not everybody understands the power in literally surrounding yourself with beauty.
That can mean beautiful people. You know the type: never get angry, never have anything bad to say about anyone, always encouraging, always smiling.
It can be beautiful goals. The kinds of goals that push you to be a better person who’s helping more people.
It can be anything that makes you feel better and more satisfied with life – activities, time with family, etc.
And it can even mean changing your mindset to replace any negative thoughts with beautiful thoughts.
But for us, it means beautiful artwork.
For a while, Wilcox Gallery ran an advertising campaign in national art magazines urging art collectors to surround themselves with beauty.
As an art gallery, we can help you surround yourself with artwork that inspires you to see the good in life and to be happier with where you’re at in life.
Even if your goalposts are always moving, there’s a lot to be said for being the kind of person who can look at the beauty that surrounds them and bask in what they see.
One of my favorite things to do is to lay back on my couch and transport myself through my Jim Wilcox paintings to the places I love and the feelings that carry me.
Surround yourself with original art, giclee prints, or even a book of art you admire and seek their calming influence to allow more beauty into your life.
Surround Yourself…at the Coffee Table
Order Jim Wilcox’s coffee table book to give you a respite from the world and open windows to the best places and the soaring moods that go with them.
Open windows to the West…
Click here now to order your copy of Canvassing the West through our secure payment portals.
3. Learn a New Skill
Many people become dissatisfied with life not because of where they are, but because of where they could be.
“[Learning] is actually a core need for psychological wellbeing,” said Vanessa King, positive psychology expert at Action for Happiness in a blog post. “Learning can help us build confidence and a sense of self-efficacy.”
And that says a lot for art collectors, who tend to be pretty accomplished people in their professions.
“It can also be a way of connecting with others too,” she continued. “As human beings, we have a natural desire to learn and progress. Psychologists call it mastery.”
Maybe you feel a latent potential in yourself that goes unfulfilled.
Unmastered, if you will.
You know you could be great at another skill, another career, another pursuit if you could just. Find. Time.
For many art collectors, that latent skill just might be art.
Jim Wilcox taught successful workshops for 30 years or so, and his students often tell me how much his teaching meant to them.
And some of his students have gone on to become successful artists in their own right. I’m reluctant to mention names, but there are quite a few Jim Wilcox students who are household names in the art world or at least doing well for themselves.
While Jim retired from teaching art workshops at the end of the 2017 season, his teachings live on through instructional DVDs that encapsulate 50 years of artistic knowledge.
If you feel like you could be an artist or would like to enhance your art skills, his DVDs could be a great way to start your 2019 and give you a new sense of accomplishment if your current accomplishments just don’t feel like accomplishments anymore.
Learn to paint (or paint better) with Jim
Order Jim Wilcox’s instructional DVDs for an entertaining way to feel more fulfilled in life.
Open windows to the West…
Click here now to order your copy of Canvassing the West through our secure payment portals.
Art can fill you up like few things can.
I hope this article will help you find more joy in 2019, no matter where you’re at on the joy scale in 2018.
January 2, 2019 @ 2:35 am
Nice article, Mark! All true.
January 4, 2019 @ 4:32 pm
Thanks Lura! Hope life’s treating you well!