Caution:Artist at Play-Artwork by Shana Rowe Jackson

10 Reasons Why We Need Art "Before the Music Died" © Shana L Rowe Jackson 2012   History . Since the dawn of time art has served as a pictorial guide to where we originate from.   From the earliest cave drawings, to religious paintings and everything in between it has served as a way to look back in time and see how different cultures lived, what they went through and how we have grown as a species.        Cultural and political expression . Art serves as a very important purpose when it comes to getting a certain message out. If you look at art from specific cultures you can learn a lot about that culture and the way they live. From longstanding traditions to political views, if it is important to said culture chances are it has been depicted in their art. Street art is a good example of this, as it often expresses the needs of the community in which it originates.       Therapy. Art is proven to be therapeutic, both in the creation of it and in be

"Caution:Artist at Play" 10"x10" Acrylic     Art, in itself is fun. It is it's own rewarding adventure from day to day, it's relaxing, and therapeutic. I absolutely love being an artist!! It's also a lot of work. I'm not just talking about challenging myself to be better at my craft, reading and learning, pushing myself, experimenting, and the years of work and personal growth. That is a factor but I consider that to be the fun side of art. What I am talking about is the menial things that most people don't think about when getting into art. The things behind the craft to make it possible. There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes, and not all of them are fun. Here is my list of top 10 tedious things that I do for my art, in no particular order as they are all in the same boat in my eyes. 10. Cleaning my brushes. This is a simple task, but it bores me to no end. It can also be time consuming depending on what medium I have been